|
Spanish
The translation of this document was made
possible by Enrique Sanchez as part of the
United Nations Volunteer Programme
PLEASE VISIT THE
CAST WEBSITE AT:
http://www.cha-cast.com
To see the January
2005
Issues of the BroadCAST, please click
HERE
or to see it in
Spanish click
AQUI
Director's Cut
In the last
issue of the BroadCAST (Vol 17 No.1
- January 15th 2005), we were
concerned about the region’s
disaster preparedness. The context
was the terrible Asian tsunami
disaster, which at last count had
claimed well over 250,000 lives.
This number is about the size of the
population of Barbados. A disaster
of such proportions in the Caribbean
is unthinkable if only for its
consequences to our collective
sanity. Let us not forget our
neighbors in Haiti where over 3,500
lives were lost from the disastrous
floods caused by Hurricane Jeanne
as well as other casualties in the
islands during 2004.
There are,
however, other categories of
‘disasters’ that affect Caribbean
tourism businesses. Our feature
article in this issue focuses on the
nexus between health and tourism. It
might have escaped the attention of
many but there have been several
reports carried in the regional
press in 2005 about outbreaks of
food-borne illnesses at a few
Caribbean hotels. Whilst the
specific numbers of persons affected
is unknown, news coming out of
Barbados recently suggests that a
hotel there is facing a class action
law suit allegedly from a recent
death related to food poisoning. If
this law suit is successful, it will
be potentially disastrous not only
for the hotel and its future
business but also for this Caribbean
destination. How many other
hotels are facing similar
situations? A well kept secret and
for obvious reasons.
CAST believes
that preventing disease outbreaks is
a matter of preparedness and
response and investing in continuous
staff training on the topics of
prevention, monitoring and reporting
systems. Visitor health and safety
is too delicate an issue to leave to
chance.
In the
upcoming months, CAST and its health
sector partner, CAREC will be
re-focusing on the Quality Tourism
for the Caribbean (QTC) Standards
developed in 2002. Look out for news
of our upcoming QTC activities.
Do, however, contact CAST for food
safety and sanitation training
courses.
We urge you
to read the feature article and send
in any comments and feedback to
cast@cha-cast.com.
Cheers,
Deirdre P. Shurland
The
Critical Link Between Health and Tourism
This
feature article focuses
on the
various links between health and tourism
as well as best practices for emergency
situations.
Your comments are
welcome and should be sent to
cast@cha-cast.com
By:
Dr. C. James Hospedales, Director -
Caribbean Epidemiology Center - CAREC
Most people
are not aware of the intimate
connections between health and tourism.
These occur on several levels, some with
more serious consequences than others.
Let’s examine a few:
1.
Interactions between visitors and
locals:
Globally, 2
million persons cross national borders
daily. The entry of visitors to any
destination is always of concern to
health officials because of the
possibility that one or more visitors
may be carriers of an infectious disease
e.g., hepatitis, HIV/AIDS, malaria,
measles, SARS, resistant germs, etc. The
receiving country may then be left with
the problem of containing and managing
an outbreak, as well as treating the
infected, often with serious cost
implications for its health sector. The
Caribbean has eliminated measles and
rubella, for example, and the only way
these diseases can return is via
travelers affected with the disease.
Most islands are free of malaria and it
can only return via infected travelers
or via infected mosquitoes transported
via ship, boat or plane.
Visitors
may be warned by their countries of
origin against traveling to any country
where there is a risk of being affected
by a disease. This is potentially
damaging to the host country. The
Caribbean has been on the receiving end
of several warnings issued by countries
in its source markets, e.g. U.S.A,
Canada, U.K. - sometimes wrongly so.
The result is often an impaired
reputation followed by a decline in
visitor levels at the destination albeit
over brief periods, but a 5% decline in
arrivals in high season can translate to
millions of dollars in foregone revenue.
Perhaps the most dramatic example of
this was seen following the outbreak of
SARS and the tsunami disaster at Asian
destinations. The former badly affected
Toronto, Canada, and led to
the formation a new Public Health Agency
for Canada.
A serious
issue is the potential for transfer of
diseases from workers to visitors. These
transfers can take place where the two
groups are in contact e.g., at hotels,
restaurants, food vendors. etc., often
via contaminated food or water. In some
instances the food establishment or
hotel becomes the subject of a law suit.
2.
Food preparation and delivery and
outbreaks of illnesses:
Outbreaks of
diseases and illnesses traced to
improperly prepared, handled or stored
food have occurred at many Caribbean
destinations. This is due to a range of
factors, including inconsistent
attention to high standards, an
inadequately trained work force and/or
the lack of an effective monitoring and
reporting system. This type of
occurrence is estimated to have cost
upwards of $US250 million in recent
years in the Caribbean.
Outbreaks of
illnesses from improperly prepared or
served food or contaminated water have
occurred among travelers to Antigua,
Bahamas, Belize, Cuba, Mexico, Jamaica,
the Dominican Republic, Barbados,
Trinidad & Tobago, St. Maarten, St
Lucia, Turks & Caicos Is., and many
other destinations. Most go unreported.
A challenge is that many guests only
become ill on return, but more
litigation conscious travelers, aand
the Internet is leading to the exchange
of more information and on rapid time
scales.
3.
Contaminated and Polluted waters
Illnesses or
diseases emanating from polluted water
bodies or drinking water supplies are
less well understood or reported, though
there have been some large, costly
outbreaks among travelers due to
contaminated drinking water. However,
there are known instances where bathers
have suffered skin rashes or ear
infections after prolonged exposure to
contaminated waters. An uncommon but
serious problem is Legionnaires’
disease, a pneumonia caused by inhaling
a mist or droplets of water contaminated
by Legionella bacteria.
The above
discussion is by no means an exhaustive
treatise on the potential transmission
mechanisms of food-and water-borne
illnesses or vector borne or respiratory
diseases. What they do illustrate,
however, is the role and importance of
the tourism sector, given its proximity
to hundreds or thousands of visitors in
relatively short time scales.
Outbreaks of illnesses among travelers
to regional hotels are among one of the
Caribbean’s best kept secrets. This is
because of the obvious potential for
loss of business if this news spreads
beyond the hotel’s boundaries.
Can the potential for such outbreaks be
prevented or eliminated? The answer is
yes, provided always that the tourism
business has invested in an effective
preventative management system,
including ensuring consistently high
operating standards, a workforce
routinely trained in the proper methods
of food handling and delivery, and being
part of a monitoring and early warning
system on health problems in industry.
These could go a long way in preventing
future outbreaks and minimizing impacts.
Topics might include hazard analysis
critical control points or HACCP
training, i.e. preparing staff to
properly prepare and handle different
types of food, early warning indicators,
lessons learned from outbreaks, response
and handling of emergency situations
(e.g. containment, reporting,
investigation, prevention), including
the best and worst practices.
When a
problem occurs, the key is to contain
the outbreak in the shortest possible
time; to focus on providing the those
affected with care and treatment in the
shortest time and in the most
considerate way; to conduct an
investigation of root causes with expert
help, and to quickly apply the remedy to
prevent future recurrence. Emergency
situations that are badly handled from a
guest perspective are likely to result
in a public relations disaster. The
consequences for future business will be
equally severe. Even the most exclusive
hotel with the most sophisticated
management system can also fall prey to
disease outbreaks if insufficient
attention is paid to the above factors.
To do otherwise is simply foolhardy.
The wider
Caribbean routinely receives upwards of
25 million visitors over the course of
any year and within distinct travel and
visitor seasons. Compare this with the
anticipated 250,000 visitors
expected within 50 days mainly in the
CARICOM islands during the Cricket World
Cup 2007.
this is potentially an explosive health
management issue for countries and the
regional tourism sector generally and a
potentially a public relations and
tourism industry nightmare!
The Caribbean
Epidemiology Centre CAREC(of PAHO/WHO)
and its tourism partner, the Caribbean
Alliance for Sustainable Tourism (CAST)
have been collaborating raising
awareness of health and tourism issues
in the Caribbean tourism sector since
1999.
Through the
Quality Tourism for the Caribbean or QTC
program, CAST & CAREC have developed the
Food Safety and Sanitation Standard
among 6 other QTC standards for the
tourism industry. The QTC program has
also trained over 1000 public, private
and community sector workers in
environment, health and safety in over 3
years of project activity.
Contact
CAREC
and
CAST for more information today on
food safety training.
CAREC is the
Caribbean’s health monitoring and
disease prevention agency located in
Port of Spain, Trinidad, and is a
specialized Centre of the Pan
American/World Health Organisation.
Back To The Top
Leading
Lights
Leading Lights are Caribbean leaders who
have made significant achievements in
the environmental and social performance
at their properties. Each 'Leading
Light' was interviewed about their
leadership and philosophy and these are
their words:
Ed Mikula,
RRG International (Green Suppliers to
the Hotel Industry:
"We have never seen the kind of enthusiasm
as when we introduced the idea of a
green product line designed for the
hospitality industry. This
positive feedback is a huge motivator
for us. At the other end of the
supply chain, we have been very
surprised to see a similar passion from
the companies in Asia that produce these
products. Through our extensive contacts
at RRG we find people trying to do the
right thing from top to bottom.
When everyone is trying to do the right
thing even better, good thing always
seem to happen. In this sector of our
business, we are very satisfied to see
that we can make a difference, even if
only in a small way. To recognize
a need (i.e., the need for green
products), and to be able to fulfill
that need; for any business this is a
rewarding achievement. Tangible
results such as seeing customers switch
from plastic to biodegradables is
extremely gratifying for us. Our goals
for the future are quite simple: in the
short term we aim to provide a group of
recycled, organic, and/or biodegradable
disposable and cyclical products that
will economically replace those that are
doing harm to the environment.
(currently we are able to undercut the
cheapest organic wash cloth sold on the
internet for $5.95/piece by offering a
high quality alternative for roughly
$0.83/piece delivered to a Caribbean
Port of entry). In the long term
we would like to introduce green fixed
asset products that are once again
economically viable, possibly moving
into the areas of alternative energy,
eco-friendly furniture, and soybean
uniforms.
For more
information about RRG and the products
and services that they offer please
visit their website
www.rrginternational.com
or
contact Ed Mikula
directly at
Rrgintled@aol.com
Back To The Top
CAST News
-
CAST Training Season Well
Underway: CAST is already hard
at
work providing training to regional
staff this year.
-
March 22-23, 2005:
CAST conducted two Hurricane
Preparedness and Response workshops
in Negril and
Montego Bay,
Jamaica with support from the JHTA’s
EAST project funded by USAID. Over
65 persons were trained.
-
April 4-9, 2005 CAST facilitated the
training of 10 hotel industry staff
in Playa Del Carmen, Mexico in the
conduct of Environmental Walk
Through's – EWTs and in association
with the Hotel Association of
Riviera Maya and Conservation
International’s Center for
Environmental Leadership in Business
(CI-CELB), with funding from the
Summit
Foundation.
The training was conducted in
Spanish and is part of a wider
program of assistance provided to
the Riviera Maya region in
Mexico for the purposes of
improving the performance of small
and large hotels. Belize
which is also part of this program
of assistance received EWT training
from CAST in 2004 and is currently
providing the EWT services through
its trained program staff to small
hotels in Southern Belize.
The
training courses for 2005 are
conducted in association with local
hotel associations. Flyers are
posted on the
CAST website:
http://www.cha-cast.com/Training1.htm.
These include
1-day courses in
Hurricane
Preparedness and Response Workshop
and a newly packaged Environmental
Management Systems (EMS) series
comprising:
−
Fundamentals of EMS
−
Getting Started: Creating an
Environmental Management Policy and
Work Plan
−
Developing High Performance Teams.
Our
schedule is filling up, so BOOK NOW!
Group discounts are in effect.
-
Regional
Youth Summer Program Already Filling
Up!:
The Wider Caribbean Environmental
Youth Program
is a seven day / six night living
and learning environmental
laboratory and experience conducted
by the Virgin Islands Environmental
Resource Station (VIERS) on St.
John, U.S. Virgin Islands where
students (ages 12-16) from
throughout the Caribbean have the
opportunity to take part in an
exciting and exhaustive outdoor
environmental education program
focused on "Natural History, Ecology
and Conservation on Caribbean
Islands". The program is sponsored
by American Airlines, The Caribbean
Hotel Association (CHA) and its
environmental subsidiary, the
Caribbean Alliance for Sustainable
Tourism (CAST), and Clean Islands
International.
The week-long program is planned for
July 21 - July 27 2005 and can host
groups of up to five students and
one chaperone,
each selected and sponsored from a
maximum of eight CHA national hotel
associations. Please therefore book
your space early! The land cost for
each participant is US$600 which
includes transportation to/from the
St. Thomas airport (STT) to VIERS on
St. John, seven nights lodging and
meals, administrative and program
fees, printed learning and reference
materials, and a program t-shirt. As
an official sponsor of the program,
American Airlines has offered 50%
discount off the lowest published
available fare at the time of
ticketing plus taxes. A sampling of
rates from past participating
islands indicates that the costs
should be under $US200 (and has been
as low as $110). Spaces are already
filling up, so sign up TODAY!
Contact Randy Brown directly at:
rb@islands.org
For more
information about VIERS and the
program's schedule, please visit the
VIERS website at
www.islands.org/virgin/viers.
-
CAST Director to Speak at CTO
Sustainable Tourism Conference
Tobago
April 25-29, 2005:
Deirdre Shurland, Director of CAST,
will be presenting on the topic,
"Meeting the Sustainable Tourism
Standards: Quality Services
Guidelines" on
Wednesday April 27th
2005.
She is expected to report on
the progress of private tourism
enterprises that have engaged in
certification programs as well as
encouraging public sector agencies
to follow suit. Ms. Shurland will
also be giving a study tour
of the
Tobago Plantations tourism resort
development in
Lowlands, Tobago.
The
750-acre resort
comprises
the 200 room Hilton Tobago
hotel,
a
range
of private villas, bungalows,
a
golf course and other
recreational facilities.
-
CAST Governing Council Meeting: The
CAST Governing Council will assemble
at the Almond Beach Village in St.
Peter, Barbados during May 12th
2005 for its 8th Annual
Meeting. This meeting follows the
important CHA Investment Conference
also scheduled for Barbados May 9-11
2005. Click
HERE for a complete list of
CAST’s Governing Council members.
-
CAST NEEDS
YOUR SUPPORT!:
CAST continues its fundraising
effort for support of its promotion
of sustainable tourism practices
throughout the region; including,
but not limited to, community based
initiatives and the improvement of
hotel operating standards. CAST is
continually evolving to serve you
better. It’s Your paradise and our
Mission, so send in your
contribution today!
More info.
Back To The Top
Sustainable
Tourism Roundup
Green Globe
Ecotourism Standard Training:
Are you interested in participating in a
4-day training course for the Green
Globe 21 International Eco-Tourism
Standard? For the first time, Caribbean
participants will have the opportunity
to receive proficiency training under
the standard and be
certified by Green Globe Asia Pacific,
global program managers.
Contact CAST at:
cast@cha-cast.com to indicate your
interest.
Although no prior experience is required
to attend the training course, those
wishing to achieve the Certificate of
Proficiency and/ or Assessors
Certificate must indicate prior GG21
proficiency training and be experienced
in EMS work
ALERT! Caribbean Food Poisoning
Reported: Earlier this year,
CAREC was notified by US Centres for
Disease Control (CDC) of many cases of
Salmonella food poisoning associated
with staying at a large Caribbean hotel.
A joint CAREC/CDC/Ministry of Health
investigation of the hotel kitchen and
food safety measures as well as farm
suppliers showed that cause to be egg
dishes contaminated with Salmonella
enteritidis (SE), (a bacteria which
lives inside a small percentage of eggs
produced on some farms), and which had
been prepared and held in a manner that
caused the bacteria to multiply to
infective levels.
Regional
Meeting of Interest:
The regional web-based newsletter,
Tradewatch in its April 1st 2005 edition
reported on a regional meeting of which
all tourism sector interests should take
note. The meeting will feature a
“high-level dialogue” between Caribbean
leaders and the international donor
community at FORUM 2005 in Barbados from
May 5-6, 2005. The meeting will be
chaired by the Prime Minister of St
Kitts and Nevis, The Hon. Denzil Douglas
and has as its theme “Managing
Transformation for Competitiveness”.
According to Tradewatch, the forum will
“define the initial elements of
achieving a modern competitive Caribbean
economy”. Participation is expected from
donor agencies, public policy makers,
the private sector, trade unions, media
and other members of civil society.
CAST’s interest in this meeting is
related to its tourism competitiveness
strategy which focuses on sustainable
tourism certification.
Green Globe 21
Certified Amsterdam Manor Beach Resort
Takes Home Caribbean Travel and Life's
Top Recognition:
Amsterdam Manor Beach Resort has been
awarded the coveted 2005 Best of the
Caribbean award in the small hotel
category by Caribbean Travel & Life
Magazine. “This honor is greatly
cherished as our intimate independent
resort celebrates its crystal 15th
anniversary. We pride ourselves on
staying ahead of the curve and always
try to improve our quality and
services,” says Mr. Jurgen van Schaijk
Owner and Managing Director. “We are
very flattered to receive this wonderful
recognition from the readers of
Caribbean Travel & Life. Being
recognized by our guests for a job well
done is truly a tremendous compliment,
but we couldn’t have done it without the
valuable contribution of our exceptional
staff.”
Casuarina Does It
Again:
Congratulations go out, once again, to
the
Casuarina Beach Club in Barbados for
copping the World Travel and Tourism
Council (WTTC) 2005 Tourism for Tomorrow
Awards in the category “Global Tourism
Business Award”. In the citation,
Casuarina was applauded for having “one
of the most advanced environmental hotel
management systems in the world”. Our
sincere congratulations to one of our
leaders (the
Casuarina Beach Club is
a member of the CAST Governing Council).
The hotel has recently been acquired by
Almond Resorts Inc. – another CAST
Governing Council member and Green Globe
21 Certified property
Tourism
Congestion Management at Natural &
Cultural Sites- New WTO Book:
The guidebook is intended to provide
very practical recommendations, using
illustrations from the case studies.
Congestion management practices are
explained at different levels, linking
actions between demand, destination and
site management. Destination and site
managers will find a range of
recommendations to build a well-informed
understanding of their places and their
visitors, as well as recommendations for
upgrading the operational and physical
capacities of their areas, in order to
handle high levels of tourism activity.
For more information on the guidebook
click
HERE.
New On-Line Energy Efficiency Discussion
Forum For Hospitality Businesses:
An on-line energy efficiency Discussion
Forum – allowing hospitality businesses
around the world the opportunity to
network over this vitally important
subject – is now open for business on
the website of the Hotel & Catering
International Management Association’s (HCIMA’s)
Government-backed, free-of-charge
Hospitable Climates energy efficiency
advisory programme. The Discussion Forum
has been designed to help put
hospitality professionals in touch with
their peers in the industry. It is ideal
for hospitality industry operators who
have an energy question that they want
answered; have information they would
like to share about successful energy
efficiency practices they have
undertaken; or require advice on energy
efficiency equipment they are
considering introducing. If, for
example, they are about to install
Combined Heat and Power (CHP) equipment
and don't know how to go about it – the
chances are that someone out there has
done it before and can help them avoid
making unnecessary mistakes. To join in
the discussion – visit
www.hospitableclimates.org.uk and
click on the Discussion Forum button.
(Source: ehotelier.com)
New BBC Natural World DVD:
BBC Natural World
has recently come out with a new documentary entitled "Secrets on the Maya
Underworld". This DVD provides an amazing look at the history of the ancient
Maya through the inmense underground waterways that lie beneath Mexico's Yucatan
Penninsula. Ties to tourism and cultural heritage are made.
Back to the Top
|
Feedback From Our
Readers
Thank you for this very informative
newsletter. It has provided me with key
information for my small hotel. I also
appreciate your invitation to write in
and share experiences. I recently
introduced a linen-reuse program which I
have now concluded, does not work unless
you train, train and re-train your
housekeeping staff. After at spending a
lot of money, I am at last beginning to
see the benefits. My advice to other
properties: be patient! - N. Michaels,
February 2005
*****
I participated in a CAST hurricane
preparedness workshop last year! I
thought that our property was well
prepared until I found out just how
unprepared we really were! We did not
even consider that we should be having
our guest sign disclaimers when they
volunteer to assist us in the height of
storm conditions. Thanks to CAST, we can
now avoid certain liabilities in the
future! – V. Brown, February 2005.
CAST also encourages readers
to send in comments and feedback on
BroadCAST articles, news and
achievements from your properties, or
with your own questions or concerns, All
submissions should be emailed to
cast@cha-cast.com
|
Back
to the Top
Views expressed above are not necessarily those of the
Caribbean Alliance for Sustainable Tourism
|
