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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 October
2004
Issues of the BroadCAST, please click
HERE
or to see it in
Spanish click
AQUI
Director's Cut
Happy New Year to all our
faithful readers and contributors to
the BroadCAST! We wish for you all
only the very best throughout 2005
and beyond! We have a lot to look
forward to and to accomplish this
year. The task is challenging as
many of our hoteliers and tourism
businesses are set for a very busy
winter season.
In a few days January 18th –
22nd 2005, many of the world’s
experts will gather in Kobe, Japan
for the world conference on Disaster
Reduction. The deliberations of this
important conference will be of
great interest to all of us in the
Caribbean given the devastation we
suffered first hand or witnessed
from a distance in 2004!
At CAST, we recommend that
preparing for disasters should be
considered in the context of making
our destinations and our tourism
business more robust overall to
withstand the threats and
uncertainties that will always be
with us. This includes, economic
downturns, rapid technology changes
and other emergencies (natural and
man-made). We therefore urge you to
take a look at CAST’s seminar and
training course offerings (http://www.cha-cast.com/Training1.htm)
this year and to contact us as soon
as possible to assist you in
strengthening your operational
systems and staff to perform. Our
training motto this year is: Tourism Pride:
Educate to Elevate!
The Caribbean
will soon play hosts to the Cricket
World Cup competition – a global
sports tourism event scheduled for
2007. For CAST and the
CHA, Cricket World Cup 2007
is anticipated to provide
excellent market opportunities
for our tourism industry – but
only if our destinations are
fully prepared. It is however,
only two-and-a-half years away
and planning for the event is
regrettably, just gathering
momentum in the region. I am
confident however, that we are
equal to the challenge. There is
a lot to be done and I urge all
here present with development
interests in the region to treat
with utmost seriousness, the
potential opportunities afforded
by this global event.
We also thank the Caribbean
Tourism Organization for their
poignant contribution to this
BroadCAST.
Cheers,
Deirdre P. Shurland
Cricket World Cup & the Caribbean Hotel
Sector: Preparing to Perform
The cricket season
begins in earnest this month in the West
Indies and this feature
article focuses
on the Cricket
World Cup 2007 tournament.
Your comments
are welcome and should be sent to
cast@cha-cast.com
By: The
Caribbean Tourism Organization
In a little
over two years time the Caribbean will
roll out the red carpet, and welcome the
world to the 2007 International Cricket
Council Cricket World Cup – the biggest
sporting event to ever grace the region,
and our single greatest tourism
opportunity ever. The decision by ICC to
award the 2007 Cricket World Cup to the
Caribbean has placed the region on the
world stage like we have never been
before.
To get a
sense of the potential that the event
presents our region, let’s take a look
at some numbers from the last Cricket
World Cup held in 2003 in South Africa.
The spectator statistics indicate that
over 825 000 tickets were bought for 54
match fixtures, with around 22,000
attending the Opening Ceremony and a
record 32,827 fans attending the final
match. This mix, of course, includes
local attendance at the games. It is
notable, however, that the South Africa
received large numbers of foreign
visitors from non-traditional markets
due to this event. For example, South
Africa registered a 195% increase in
Indian visitors during the world cup
months and a 97.5 percent in Asian
visitors from a base of 14,000.
In addition
to the thousands of visitors which South
Africa welcomed for the games, another
1.4 billion people watched the matches
on television. The organizers anticipate
the Caribbean will do even better. They
expect that one million tickets will be
bought for the 2007 games and another
1.7 billion people around the world will
watch the event on television. What a
chance to shine! To play host to the
world! To show off our beautiful
countries and all their facilities and
to invite people to return and visit
with us even after all the cricket
events are ended.
What an
opportunity to show them what real
Caribbean hospitality is, how polite and
honest our people are and how clean our
countryside and beaches are. To display
the highest standards in our transport
and all our other public services. To
show off our hotel properties, whether
at the luxury or the Bed and Breakfast
level. To promote our unique cuisine
and to put on stage a workforce equal to
the best in the world.. To present the
Caribbean and Caribbean people as
something special. A once in a
lifetime opportunity!
It’s an
opportunity, if grabbed with both hands,
will have an impact well beyond the
games themselves and the direct impact.
For the hotel and tourism sector, the
greatest impact of the Cricket World Cup
must be the permanent positioning our
tourism industry at the leading edge of
global competitiveness and ensuring
sustainable tourism growth well beyond
2007.
Hosting the
World Cup matches is expected to bring
tremendous benefits to the entire
region. The Caribbean organizers
anticipate an influx of hundreds of
millions of dollars into the region’s
economies and the creation of thousands
of jobs. Around 100,000 tourists, not
counting returning Caribbean residents
from the United States, Britain, Canada
and elsewhere, are expected to visit the
region for the duration of the
tournament. They are expected to spend
in the region of US$250 million on
accommodation, transportation,
entertainment, food and beverages and
souvenirs.
Mr. Rawle
Brancker, the chairman of the board of
the International Cricket Council’s CWC
2007 said recently: “The staging of the
World Cup in our region is an ideal and
major opportunity to advance Caribbean
knowledge and experience in the staging
of mega-events and to derive for
Caribbean nationals and companies the
wider economic benefits and
opportunities which such major events
have historically created. “In our
master plan, the measurable goals
attached to these achievements are, to
mention a few: the creation of about 2,
000 jobs in each match-playing country;
the value creation of US$500 million in
gross economic impact; and external cash
inflows of US$300 million.”
The hotel
and tourism sector must position itself
to take advantage of these benefits and
linkages that will be created as a
result of hosting the games. These
linkages include, but are not restricted
to, construction/renovation of
facilities and overall state
infrastructure (accommodation, venues,
roads, etc.); strengthening the
auxiliary and other services;
development and promotion of the
cultural expressions of the region;
marketing of the Caribbean at a global
level; strengthening intra-regional
linkages at the political and local
levels; and increased competitiveness of
the Caribbean tourism industry. All of
these augur well for the region’s hotel
and tourism sector.
Of course,
the games will present their own
challenges to the hotel and tourism
sector. First of all, the proposed dates
for the Cricket World Cup, March-May
2007, fall on the bridge period between
the end of the winter and the beginning
of the summer season. April is one of
the peak months for arrivals to
Caribbean destinations, with visitors
taking advantage of the Easter
holidays/Spring break. Arrivals for
April represent between nine and 10 per
cent of the total arrivals for any given
year.
For the
accommodation sector, there is a
need to assess the
quantity and quality of available rooms;
the recognition that available room
capacity to accommodate the extra flows
generated by the cricket event, will be
diminished by rooms contracted out by
tour operators and rooms sold to
non-cricket visitors and the need to
investigate temporary rooms which may be
available in private/informal
facilities, among other challenges. With
the exception of Jamaica, the
traditional cricket destinations have
fewer than 10,000 rooms currently
available and projections suggest that
without significant investment into the
hotel plant, this is unlikely to change
by 2007.
A matching
of currently available rooms with the
anticipated visitor numbers,
particularly for the opening ceremony
and final game – up to 40,000 – suggests
that creative solutions will have to be
considered to deal with anticipated room
shortages. These include the possibility
of accommodating people in one country
and transporting them to another on a
daily basis for games of their choice.
This has the added advantage of allowing
non-venue countries to be a part of the
event. Addressing issues like safety,
product development, quality assurance,
pricing, infrastructure capacity, and
skills development will be critical also
for the hotel and tourism sector.
In view of
all this, it is clear that the 2007
Cricket World Cup presents incredible
challenges for the hotel and tourism
sector. However, the opportunities are
endless if we see 2007 as a critical
milestone and not as an end-goal.
Clearly, we have to use the event as a
vehicle to promote Caribbean tourism and
business. We can achieve this by turning
the games into an experimental
laboratory that provides an opportunity
to develop Caribbean approaches that
combine our innate creativity with the
required efficiency that will capture
the world through the same imagination
and passion that cricket generates.
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:
Louise John, Founder,
Talkabout: "The PEOPLE! of the
region are my main motivation to pursue
excellence. The region is driven by
tourism and our population is at risk
from Environmental degradation in
pursuit of the almighty dollar. There
are numerous ways to get people's
buy-in, at home and at work, to being
environmentally smart and savvy.ewarding
environmental ACTIONS. Words are easy
but taking the time to turn off
electricity and water, talk with school
children and women's groups and make
community / eco-smart purchasing choices
are solid commitments to improving &
preserving our region.the people we
train - when line staff take the ACTIONS
we have trained and implement to their
homes & communities, such as church
groups in the Bahamas & Barbados and
financial literacy initiatives in
Antigua & St. Lucia - it's a WOW!
commit to ever-more interactive
environmental awareness training &
education that is practical, save money
and
For more information about Talkabout
please contact Louise John directly at
louisej@talkabout-skills.com
or visit the company website at
www.talkabout-skills.com
Back To The Top
CAST News
-
CAST
Rolls Out New and Improved Training
Courses: CAST training courses for 2005 are
now posted on the CAST website:
http://www.cha-cast.com/Training1.htm.
These include the 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.
These
training sessions are all 1-day in
duration and will impart key skills
to tourism staff leading these
various on-property efforts. The
Hurricane Preparedness workshop will
again be offered via the hotel
associations to their members and is
open to other interested industry
participants. CAST will include a
special presentation by Smith Orloff insurance
adjusters in this year's Hurricane training
workshop. Book your spaces early.
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!
For more
information about VIERS and the
program's schedule, please visit the
VIERS website at
www.islands.org/virgin/viers.
-
New
CAST Brochure Highlights Green Globe
21 Properties:
CAST produced a new brochure
highlighting the Green Globe 21
Certified and Benchmarked properties
in the region. It was distributed at
the WTO Tourism Planning Forum in
Washington D.C. in October 2004, at World
Travel Market in the U.K in November
2004, and at
Caribbean Market Place in Jamaica,
January 2005. A downloadable copy of
the brochure is available on the
CAST website
http://www.cha-cast.com/Publications.htm
-
First Blue
Flags raised in
the Caribbean!:
The
Caribbean has been awarded its first
Blue Flags. This prestigious and
well-recognized eco-label will be
flying at twelve sites in four
countries, The Bahamas, Jamaica,
Dominican Republic and Puerto Rico.
Blue Flag is a standardization and
certification programme for beaches
and marinas which meet established
water quality, environmental
management, safety, services and
facilities and environmental
education and awareness. CAST
attended the flag hoisting ceremony
for Puerto Rico and will also attend
the flag hoisting ceremonies for the
Bahamas, February 3rd –
4th 2005. Also scheduled on these
dates is a Blue
Flag National Coordinators’ meeting. Among
other items on the agenda for
discussion will be the institutional
relevance and structure of the Blue
Flag Consortium (CAST,
CTO,
CCA) its
memorandum of understanding and
the program's annual operating budget.
-
New
Monthly Newsletter for Green Globe
Certified and Benchmark Properties:
In
October CAST successfully launched a
new monthly web-based newsletter,
“The Globe
Trotter: The Green Globe Caribbean
Newsletter Presented by CAST”.
The newsletter is targeted and
issued each month to all Green Globe
Certified and Benchmarked properties
in the Caribbean. Its purpose
is to keep the Caribbean’s GG21
participants informed and up-to-date
on program activities and to provide
a forum for discussion of issues and
sharing of best practices.
All Green Globe properties as well
as suppliers that wish to make
special offers or showcase new
technologies or services to the
properties are encouraged to
contribute information on a regular
basis. Information to be considered
for publication should be sent to
jdohrmann@caribbeanhotels.org
(please note that CAST reserves the
right to edit all submissions). To
read a back issue click
HERE.
-
CAST
presents at the WTO's Tourism Policy
Forum:
CAST
participated in the
World Tourism Organization’s Tourism
Policy Forum in Washington D.C.,
October 18th – 20th 2004 and presented
the experience of the Green Globe 21
certification program for the
Caribbean. The Forum will produce the working agenda for
this newly inducted-UN agency.
-
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
On The
Wire
A Year in Review, Major Sustainable
Tourism/Environmental Awards and
Recognitions Given in 2004: This
year the Caribbean took home some of the
most coveted travel and tourism awards.
The region's efforts are being
recognized and rewarded. The list below
highlights the recognitions given in
2004.
- Large Hotel Category:
Beaches Boscobel
Resort & Golf Club, Jamaica
- Small Hotel Category:
Sandals Inn, Jamiaca
-
World Legacy Award, Hotel and
Resort Category:
Casuarina
Beach Club, Barbados.
-
Responsible Tourism Award, Best
Hotel Category:
Casuarina Beach Club, Barbados.
-
Virgin Holidays Environmental
Gold Award, World Travel Market:
Sandals Resorts International
-
IH&RA 2004 Environmental Award for
“Innovation in Environmental Best
Practice":
Bucuti Beach Resort, Aruba
- Runner Up in the Chain Category:
Beaches Boscobel Resort & Golf Club,
Jamaica
- Independent Honorable Mention:
3
Rivers Eco Lodge, Dominica
-
World Travel Awards
(Sherbourne
Conference Centre, Barbados on 11
December):
- Leading Caribbean Destination:
Barbados
Caribbean Health & Spa Expo:
Positive Tourism Productions in
cooperation with the Hilton Kingston
Hotel is proud to announce The
“Caribbean Health & Spa Expo” scheduled
for February 7 and 8, 2005 in Kingston,
Jamaica. There will be 12 seminars and
40 exhibitors at this conference which
aims to link Health and Tourism as well
as discuss how to position the Caribbean
as the leading health and spa
world-class destination. For further
information please contact Positive
Tourism Productions at 876-957-9243,
516-620-0582, 876-381-1417, fax
876-957-9057 or e-mail
healthexpo@positivetourism.com
or see the website:
http://www.caribbeanhealthtourism.com/
CHA/AMEX Award Applications Now
Available:
The prestigious CHA/AMEX Green Hotel of
the Year Awards application is now
available on the
CAST
website. The Green Hotel of the Year
Awards demonstrate the Caribbean travel
and tourism industry’s continued
commitment to pursuing sustainable
tourism development in the region. The
Awards were developed to identify,
promote and recognize in each calendar
year, hotels that are exemplars of
responsible environmental and social
performance through their policies,
plans and activities. The CHA Green
Hotel Awards are
administered by CAST and sponsored
by American Express (AMEX) in two
categories: Large Hotels with ≥ 75 rooms
and Small Hotels with ≤ 74 rooms. For
each category, hotels must demonstrate
significant reductions of waste streams
through innovative means, increased
employee awareness and motivation,
including guest involvement in
conservation programs and contributions
to the development of adjacent
communities. Final date for submission
is March 18th 2005. So send in your
applications TODAY and receive
recognition for your efforts!
World Leaders to Meet in Mauritius
Regarding Small Island Developing States:
In June 1992, at the United Nations
Conference on Environment and
Development, the world community adopted
Agenda 21, representing a global
consensus and political commitment at
the highest level on development and
environment cooperation. Now, 12 years
later, from January 10-14 2005, a
high-level international meeting in
Mauritius will review the implementation
of the Barbados Programme of Action for
the Sustainable Development of Small
Island Developing States. Official
documents for the Mauritius
International Meeting – including the
Draft Strategy Paper and various
background papers -- are accessible
through the web-site of the UN Office of
the High Representative for the Least
Developed Countries, Landlocked
Developing Countries and Small Island
Developing States (OHRLLS).
Certified
Businesses Called to Speak at World
Travel Market in London,
Nov. 8-11,
2004:
A panel discussion comprised
of UNEP,
TIES, and The Rainforest Alliance and titled: "Certification Benefits and
Challenges: Certified responsible
businesses from around the world share
their experiences and lessons learned"
took place at this year's WTM.
Representatives of certified businesses
from Barbados, Brazil, Costa Rica,
Ecuador, England and South Africa
explained how they have adopted
ecologically and socially responsible
practices and the benefits from doing
so.
Back
to the Top
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Feedback From Our
Readers
"The
Cricket World Cup world competition
will surely test our region’s
level of sophistication and
ability to stage a celebrated
world event. For the benefit of
those Conference participants
unaware of the event’s
significance, the West Indies
have a long and distinguished
reputation in the game of
cricket. Even though our proud
record has been somewhat
tarnished by the recent
misfortunes of the West Indies
team, the game of cricket
provides a view into the heart
and soul of West Indians.
The
Caribbean travel and tourism
industry must be fully committed
and prepared to roll out its
welcoming warmth and hospitality
to the projected influx of
60,000-100,000 visitors expected
during the 6-8 week competition
period. And it must do so in a
way which does not compromise
our valued ecosystems, our
island infrastructure and the
hospitality for which we have
become so well known and loved.
Our future depends upon it."
-P. Sutherland,
Trinidad and Tobago, November 2004
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
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