The Caribbean Society of Hotel Association Executives (CSHAE) gathered last week in San Juan, Puerto Rico for its annual Leadership Conference, a professional development meeting that focuses on membership development techniques and association management skills. Members of CSHAE, which is comprised of national hotel association executives from 35 Caribbean countries, participated in an intensive, two-day professional and organisational development program, which culminated with the election of the Society’s 2005-2006 Executive Committee.

ÊThis year’s Leadership Conference featured a full-day exchange session on the associations’ successful projects and strategies in areas such as revenue generation, recognition programs, community outreach projects, and marketing initiatives, among others.

“Consider that tourism is the single most important development activity of the region, where two countries owe more that 75% of their economies to travel & tourism; for another four countries it is between 50-75% and 25-50% for a further ten countries.ÊIn this light, it is a fact that Caribbean nations must cooperate if they are to survive in the global tourism marketplace,” said Berthia M. Parle, MBE, president of Caribbean Hotel Association (CHA), organisers of the conference.

“This year’s Leadership Conference was a particularly effective forum for the exchange of ideas among delegates from the various Caribbean hotel associations. The fact that we are able to speak openly and learn from each other in an atmosphere of cooperation makes this a one-of-a-kind, custom-designed opportunity. CHA, as representative of Caribbean tourism’s private sector, is only as strong and effective as each of the national hotel associations that compose the CHA federation; our associations and our region’s tourism can only gain by this experience.”

The conference also delved into the issue of partnerships through an interactive session that focused on the relationship between Association Executive and Association President - and how together they can drive the tourism private sector to achieve better results, enhanced performance, and more productivity at the national level.
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