The Caribbean Hotel & Tourism Association (CHTA) met with several senior executives from chain hotels with properties in the Caribbean region to reconstitute the previously successful Chain Hotels Forum, originally created 15 years ago, and agreed to further discussion on the creation of a “Communications Campaign” to educate and impress upon the people and the governments of the region the importance of tourism to the local economies throughout the Caribbean.The participating senior executives from the chain hotels all agreed that an advocacy program was one of the primary goals of the group, especially in light of the upcoming CARICOM Heads of Government meeting set for the beginning of July.

CHTA executives will be putting together a proposed plan of action to include both advertising in local Caribbean newspapers as well as a public relations campaign designed to meet the criteria set by the Chain Hotels Forum.  This plan of action will be reviewed and discussed at the next meeting of the Forum on June 4 in Miami.

Other topics of discussion will include a focus on marketing in the down economy, human resource issues, the environment and the dwindling airline seat capacity in the region.

“We were very pleased with the turnout for our first meeting in April and expect that the momentum will grow as the chain hotels with properties in the Caribbean and CHTA have mutual goals that will benefit the growth and development of tourism in the Caribbean,” said Enrique de Marchena Kaluche, president of CHTA.
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