President of the Caribbean Hotel Association (CHA) Berthia Parle considers insensitive, Air Jamaica´s temporary withdrawal of services to the Eastern Caribbean. The Hotelier is one of several industry officials who have been reacting this week to the move by Air Jamaica, to facilitate new maintenance guidelines set by the Jamaica Civil Aviation Authority.

The Caribbean Hotel Association (CHA) is raising the bar for Caribbean hospitality with a member-centric annual conference that meets the challenge of being more relevant to its members: the Caribbean Hotel Industry Conference 2005, better known as CHIC, which will take place June 26-29. Caribbean tourism can expect continued growth, albeit moderate, in arrivals this year is both cause for optimism – and a call to pay urgent attention to the improvement of our product in all areas, said CHA President Berthia M. Parle.

The President of the Caribbean Hotel Association Berthia Parle just visited Turks and Caicos, where she meet with the islands´s Hotel and Tourism Association (TCHTA), Government and tourism officials, and attended the country’s first National Tourism Achievement Osprey Awards Gala Ceremony.

Three Caribbean Community (CARICOM) Heads of Government have so far agreed to participate in a Prime Ministers Forum on the Caribbean Tourism at the annual Caribbean Hotel Industry Conference (CHIC), which for the first time will be held out of the Caribbean Basin. The conference is scheduled to run June 26 through 29, 2005 at the Hyatt Regency Hotel in Miami. President of the Caribbean Hotel Association (CHA), Bertha Parle, said the two-hour form would highlight the opening session on June 27.

CHA reminds that following the successful celebration of the inaugural PROFIT in the Caribbean Partnership Meeting, held October 2004 in Montego Bay, Jamaica, a follow-up meeting will be held in conjunction with the upcoming CHTIC 2005 in Barbados, taking the established regional investment conference to a new level with a business component.

FirstCaribbean International Bank and the Caribbean Hotel Association (CHA) have signed a strategic partnership agreement to work together that, among other things, provides hotel workers across the region with special concessions on loans and mortgages. With an estimated 1.3 million people working in the tourism industry in the Caribbean it is expected that an initiative such as this - granting special rates to hotel workers - should greatly facilitate the progress of the region´s people as they access financing to pursue their dreams and goals, initiative sponsors believe.