The President of the Caribbean Hotel Association (CHA), Berthia Parle, has warned that the regional tourism industry could collapse if investments were geared primarily towards hotel rooms without the requisite investment in human capital. Ms Parle told the Caribbean Hotel and Tourism Investment Conference (CHIC) and PROFIT Partnership meeting held in Bridgetown, Barbados, this week, that while investment in the human resource capacity of the Caribbean is not normally considered, it is the glue that holds it all together.

The director of finance and resource management of the Caribbean Tourism Organization (CTO), Luther Miller, has called for greater investment within the tourism sector to meet the growing demands of visitors to the region. Addressing the 9th Annual Caribbean Hotel and Tourism Investment Conference (CHIC), Mr Miller recalled that a record 21.8 million tourists came to the Caribbean last year and the projections are that this figure would continue to grow in coming years.

Addressing the 9th Caribbean Hotel and Tourism Investment Conference (CHIC) and Profit Partnership meeting, Barbados Tourism Minister Noel Lynch called for the implementation of government and private sector policies and initiatives to make regional tourism more attractive to potential investors. The Minister told some 400 delegates attending the three-day conference, held from Monday to Wednesday in Bridgetown, that this reality could not be achieved simply by lowering imposts on the industry, but through the implementation of a range of policy options.

Mexico, one of the world’s richest countries as far as natural beauties are concerned, is getting all set to show off its ecotourism potentials at the upcoming Seventh ExpoAventura, an event scheduled for June 3 to 5 at Mexico City’s World Trade Center. According to Wendy Hesketh, president of the Mexico Association of Ecotourism and Adventure Tourism (AMTAVE), the ecological segment is catching on rapidly right now and demand for this kind of travel is soaring.

The Sherbourne Conference Center in Barbados has been the venue Monday and Tuesday of the Caribbean Hotel and Tourism Investment Conference (CHTIC) and PROFIT Partnership Meeting, designed to promote partnership and investment opportunities in the region´s hospitality industry. The main objective of the event, whose main organizer is the Caribbean Hotel Association (CHA), is to create a sustainable forum for bringing together business partners from the European Union and third countries to promote investment in and development of the tourism sector in the ACP Caribbean.

The fifth edition of the International Conference on Tourist Rights came to a close last week in Havana amid some serious debates on such hot issues as international travel hiring, tourist insurance and traveler protection. Planned by Cuba’s Trade Right Association and the Financial and Economic Rights Association, the event gave attendants the opportunity of exchanging views on tourism investment, international hiring, bankrolling operations and industry supplies.