Short Story
On November 16, during Caribbean Tourism Awareness Month, the Business Students Association (BSA) at St. George’s University held their biannual lecture under the pertinent and timely theme: “Developing and marketing the tourism product amidst the financial dilemma”.
The lecture, which was attended by the Minister of Education, Honorable Franka Bernadine, members of the public and SGU students, staff and faculty, was geared at “sensitizing students and the business community about the means by which the tourism industry can thrive as the world experiences economic difficulties”.
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Full Story
The BSA students invited an expert panel of presenters consisting of Mrs. Bonita Morgan, Director of Human Resources at the Caribbean Tourism Organisation, Mr. Jeremy Jones, Regional Director of the Eastern Caribbean for Sandals Resorts International, Mr. Simon Stiel, Director of the Grenada Board of Tourism and one of their own, student presenter Mr. Joshua DaSilva, a Tourism and Hospitality major at SGU.
Mrs. Bonita Morgan focused on the economic cycle. She said that it was inevitable to have “times of lean and times of plenty” and that countries should understand this and be prepared to cope by using their resources prudently. She advised prioritizing, becoming creative and resourceful, developing smart partnerships, pooling resources and aggressively seeking funding.
The second panelist to present was student Joshua DaSilva, who presented a detailed picture of the challenges facing tourism in Grenada and the region, including high costs of international and interregional travel, local’s low awareness of the importance of tourism, and the underdevelopment of our tourism product. He also suggested several recommendations including education and training especially of persons who deal directly with tourists, putting the right people in key positions and seeking investments to develop the tourism product.
Sandals’ Jeremy Jones advocated lowering the cost of travel by reducing taxes and even making the Caribbean a “one-fly zone” as a means of increasing travel. He also suggested more robust marketing of our tourism product and using innovative means like utilizing national figures from sports and the arts. He also advised that the Caribbean begin to consider marketing to emerging markets. He concluded: “We are coming to a rather critical time in the Caribbean’s economic history. The tourism industry has to finally deliver on its much promoted potential.”
The evening’s final speaker, Mr. Simon Stiel, highlighted the seriousness of the situation facing the tourism industry: decrease in stay-over arrivals and in spending per visitor, imminent declines in the cruise ship industry and the continuing uncertainty of the economic condition of our main markets, which result in fiercer competition among stakeholders and destinations and decreased investor confidence. He stressed that several of the challenges that face tourism are within our control and we must work on these, including lack of a common vision, low stakeholder involvement in strategy development and decision making, the poor condition of many of our tourist attractions and a general lack of will and focus in addressing challenges. He previewed the new strategic plan developed by the Grenada Board of Tourism with the help of various stakeholders to be launched later that month.
In response to these four knowledgeable and insightful presentations a very stimulated audience presented pertinent questions to the panel. Overall, the lecture was very well received and sparked much thought and discussion.
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