Q & A with Alec Sanguinetti, Director General and CEO of the Caribbean Hotel and Tourism Association (CHTA)

2009 will certainly be a challenging year for the world of travel and tourism, a realm in which the Caribbean is one of its centerpieces. That’s why one of the area’s main tourist organization –the Caribbean Hotel and Tourism Association (CHTA)- will go the extra mile to try make things right and pave the way for the full-blown rebound of the number-one regional industry that, as Alec Sanguinetti puts is, is expected to happen in the second half of 2010. About this and other issues, Caribbean News Digital talked exclusively with CHTA’s Director General and CEO within the framework of the FITUR 2009 fair in Spain’s Madrid.

Q.- Every year all associations lay out the same goals in terms of attending fairs and other travel events. But depending on the situation, those goals must be adjusted, especially in 2009 that looms to be quite a tough year for everybody within the industry. How is CHTA planning to take part in events in the course of this year?
A.- We want to make sure that the Spanish market, which is very important to the Caribbean in both the Spanish- and English-speaking countries –the latter have been getting tremendous Spanish investments in recent years- knows that the Caribbean is open for business, that there are new products and several new attractions, especially when the markets are so much challenged right now. There are those who will travel and we want to make sure they know everything about the Caribbean when they come visiting us in the region.

Q.- What are the top outbound markets out of Europe right now for the Caribbean?
A.- The United Kingdom, Spain and Germany, and then Italy.

Q.- Though Germany has stressed its interest in the MICE market, even in these difficult economic moments the Spanish people would like to travel to the Caribbean.
A.- Most definitely. And as you know, the Spanish big hotel chains are investing in places like Aruba, Jamaica –where they are now running over 10,000 hotel rooms- into Paradise Island in the Bahamas, and we’re welcoming that new investment because those are new products and good companies to work with and because that opens up the doors to a new kind of tourism.

Q.- Quite a number of Caribbean islands still don’t have direct flights from Spain’s Madrid or any other European major capital. Is your company working closely with airlines to get more nonstop flights out of Europe to those Caribbean islands?
A.- Yes, CHTA is working with CTO to try to minimize the new air traffic regulations because traveling is all about facilitation for both the travelers and the companies we do business with in the Caribbean. We’re looking very closely at what needs to be done to attract the airlines and we’re having discussions with some of them.

We know the major issues are all about costs and if we manage to reduce the costs of operations to the Caribbean, then we know we’ll be successful. But we’ve been watching European airlines flying into the Caribbean, especially into Jamaica. There are several charters from Spain into Jamaica.

Q.- What about cruise lines?
A.- Cruise lines are very much a part of our tourism industry. Land-based tourism and cruise tourism coexist together in the Caribbean that, as a matter of fact, is the largest world region for cruising since 40 percent of the cruise market is in the Caribbean. So, we work very closely with cruise lines.

Q.- Multidestination has become a hot issue in recent years, and the topic has turned out to be the talk of meetings and congresses. However, there have been snags on the road to consolidate multidestination plans that really work. What do you think about that?
A.- That’s critical because Europeans in particular like multidestination offers. When you look at the Caribbean, there are 35 different countries, different cultures, different geographies. We’re natural places for multidestination vacations and that’s why cruise lines love to sail into the Caribbean. We have challenges to work on, like the implementation of an inter-regional transportation system and we have to knock down all the barriers that exist there to make sure that people can move freely and quickly through the airports rather than being bogged down with bureaucracy, extra charges and things like that.

When you look at world tourism –which is so competitive- you notice that smart destinations are removing the barriers to travel, facilitating traveling, and we have to look at that issue very seriously in the Caribbean. It’s true we need to balance security with it also, but there are ways of doing that to ensure that you facilitate travel and not deter people from coming because of some travel restrictions.

Q.- The Caribbean area is well known in Europe and around the world for being a wonderful region, its climate. However, there’s been a trend going on in recent years to promote things other than tradition tourism, such as culture, heritage, history and other values of our islands.
A.- Absolutely. You can only spend a few hours at the beach and there’s a whole new world out there in terms of ecotourism, cultural tourism, historical tourism, culinary tourism of the Caribbean. That trend has been taken almost on an international scale and particularly from Europe you find visitors who are very much interested in off-beach tourism and you find many of the small indigenous citadels and hotels in the Caribbean that are not on the beach, that are up in the hills, in the mountains. And these small hotels and citadels are the fabric of the Caribbean.

There are also chances of enjoying forests and rain forests. Bear in mind that the Caribbean islands are some of the world’s most beautiful countries, with beautiful rivers and mountains, so we have to make sure that visitors come looking for much more than just sun and beach.

Q.- As we mentioned at the top of this interview, the world is going through some tough times. What do you expect from this year and what is going to be your strategy in promoting the Caribbean to lure far more visitors from Europe, especially from Spain?
A.- 2009 is surely going to be a very challenging year for the world of travel and tourism, but not just for the Caribbean. I think we all have to really buckle down and put our heads together for 2009. I see the situation sort of improving in the later part of 2010 because this is an economic crisis that has to work itself out. But tourism is proving to be a very resilient industry and it will surely recover, but that’s going to happen in the second half of 2010.

In terms of promoting the region, we are working hard to put together a regional marketing fund which will have a sustainable factor and we hope it’s going to be in the region of 60 million dollars a year. This fund will certainly give us a lot of ammunition to go to our major markets –primarily North America, Europe and the developing markets in South America and Eastern Europe. Mostly North America and Europe will be receiving the largest chunk of our funds and the majority of our attention in terms of marketing.