Q & A with Hugh Riley, Secretary General of the Caribbean Tourism Organization (CTO)

Q & A with Hugh Riley
Secretary General of the Caribbean Tourism Organization (CTO)

By Jose Carlos de Santiago and Yndiana Montes (STC-12, Bermuda)

CTO Secretary General Hugh Riley is a media-friendly personality worth sitting down with for the extensive insight he always gives on the region’s tourism industry, its trends and perspectives. CND has had the privilege of interviewing him on several occasions, the latest within the framework of STC-12 held in Bermuda. This time around, Mr. Riley broaches a wide array of topics, ranging from the significance of sustainable development for the Caribbean to the new strategies his organization has in the works.

Q: How do you assess the acclaim this year’s conference has had?
A: We’re very encouraged by the support we’re getting at this conference. First of all, the Sustainable Tourism Conference is easily one of the most important events that the Caribbean Tourism Organization does throughout the year. We’ve had attendance and participation at this particular conference by government members, tour operators, hotels, cruise lines, travel agents, academics and other affiliate members of the Caribbean Tourism Organization. So, the message is clearly getting out.

Q: Why so few tourism ministers and directors from the member countries have attended this time around?
A: I think there are two reasons why the attendance is a little bit smaller than usual. One is that the attendance at international conferences in the current economic climate is smaller than usual. That’s a reality that we have to live with. Two: that we’ve realized that in the current economic environment getting to Bermuda in the month of April isn’t always the easiest thing to do and it is not by any means an inexpensive conference to attend. That’s the second part of it. And the third thing is that we, at CTO, are victims of our own success.

We’re fairly good at getting information out about the output from the conference, so our members and our various public understand that the conduits of information of what had happened here are fairly efficient. For instance, the CTO news that we got yesterday in our newsletter had presentations, quotes, speeches and photographs of what occurred at yesterday’s event here at the conference. So, that sort of touring our own horn, but we are very good at getting the information out at people who are not here about what happened, and people have started to understand that.

Q: Is cooperation between CHTA and CTO important for this event?
A: It’s extremely important for us to have the support of all segments of the tourism industry. Sustainability isn’t a private-sector event or a public-sector event; it’s everybody’s business. Tourism in the Caribbean is everybody’s business, so we’re very happy to be partnering with the Caribbean Hotel & Tourism Association, with the Florida Caribbean Cruise Association, with tour operators that are here, and of course we’re very happy to be partnering with the members of the media, that are in fact useful partners of CTO in getting the word out to the general public in ways that the public can understand. This is not just some technical matter that we’re discussing, but sustainability is everyone’s business.

Q: Why aren’t Spanish-speaking countries represented in this conference? Why haven’t they attended this event?
A: We do have to analyze the actual attendance list to see exactly who is here and who is not, and to try to analyze why certain segments might not be here. But let me tell you that we put the word out to all of our member countries; we put the word out to our entire database, so this conference was very widely publicized. So, as to which individual segments are not able to be here and what those reasons are, I’m not clear yet if we have to do that analysis, but we’re truly proud of the work we did in putting the word out to our entire database about the conference.

Q: Why isn’t CTO prying into the Russian market?
A: As a matter of fact we are. We have our director of Europe here who would tell you about the events we have done in Russia, who would tell you about the interests we’ve gotten from Russian tour operators. The Russians are not that familiar with the Caribbean as they could be, so I can’t tell you there’s massive influx of Russian business into the Caribbean, but we’ve certainly made inroads there and we’re starting to hear about the Caribbean and Russia.

Q: In the same way CATA has managed to get all Central American countries an open visa, why isn’t the Caribbean as an organization working in that same direction?
A: The whole business of access to the Caribbean and entry to Caribbean countries when you are in the Caribbean are subjects that we are actively discussing with our member governments within CTO. There’s one shining example of that having happened during World Cup Cricket not very long ago, and in which a single entry visa or a single entry allowed access throughout the region. That existed for a very large event, so it set an example of how we can work in the future. How to make it happen in the future goes beyond a single tourism consideration and that’s why we’re talking with all of the authorities that are involved in making that happen.

Q: The role of Seleni Matus working for CTO and promoting this initiative. How do you think this is going to come along because I understand that not many Caribbean countries are getting involved in this initiative? Perhaps fear is one of the reasons because there’s so much confusion about sustainable tourism.
A: I don’t want to single out one country over the others. We represent 33. But now that you mentioned Seleni Matus, who’s the director of tourism for Belize, Seleni has a tremendously rich background in sustainable tourism. She’s been for a number of years at Conservation International and has a huge amount of experience in relevant areas of green tourism and general sustainability, so she has a story to tell. She also represents a country that has a very specific interest in this area of the tourism industry. So, it is not a surprise that Belize would take such a central role in a conference as important as this. Now, Belize is not by any means the only CTO member country represented here. You could see through the different member countries of CTO different emphases on various different aspects of tourism. That, after all, is the diversity of the Caribbean we are so proud of, so there is every aspect of the subject being represented here and yes, we’re very happy to be working with the government of Belize in promoting this area of sustainability.

Q: How is the Brazilian market doing?
A: The Brazilian market is such a huge potential market for the Caribbean. Many of our member countries have been able to take advantage of it because of geography and because of cleared access more than others, but Brazil is continuing to prove itself to be a market of great potentials, and more and more of our member countries are having access to that nation and to others in South America.

Q: Is there anything about this conference that you would like to add?
A: I think the one segment that I’m particularly encouraged to see here are travel agents. Travel agents are the advisory members of the CTO Chapter Advisory Council, so various travel agents from across the United States are here and they are representing a very important segment of the tourism industry for the Caribbean. Travel agents are still a meaningful method of looking for vacationers to our Caribbean countries and CTO, and the fact that they are here to hear and understand and participate in areas related to sustainable tourism, shows that message is getting out to them as well.

People have started to see that sustainable tourism isn’t just about green tourism, green technologies, global warming or climate change and rising fuel costs. It’s in fact just about all those things, but it is also about community involvement, it’s about partnership and it’s just about doing business. Travel agents and the travel community in general have started to realize that there is an economic benefit in sustainable tourism, so they are here to involve themselves in the message and hopefully to take it back to their colleagues and also to their clients.