The travel and tourism industry currently accounts for more than 15.5% of total employment in the Caribbean region…
The travel and tourism industry currently accounts for more than 15.5% of total employment in the Caribbean region; in some islands, the proportion is as high as 50%; and the predictable growth of this industry is expected to provide employment to a steadily increasing proportion of Caribbean people at an annual growth rate of 2.8%. However, tourism is not always perceived by the Caribbean youth as an industry that presents real opportunities for professional career development. On the occasion of the World Tourism Day on Monday September 27, 2004, the Caribbean Hotel Association (CHA) is launching a regional awareness campaign on careers in tourism aimed at informing young Caribbean individuals of the opportunities offered by this growing industry.
“We are working to ensure that we attract the best of our Caribbean talent into this vibrant industry and that Tourism is seen as a career of choice not as a last resort,” said Susan Springer, Chairperson of CHA Product Development Committee (and Executive Vice President of The Barbados Hotel and Tourism Association). “There is a gigantic wave of opportunity building just over the horizon. Catch it!” is the principal message conveyed through wall posters and brochures. “It is critical for the future of tourism that we work closely with schools and young people, educating them about the diversity of jobs that the tourism industry offers for people who wish to have an exciting, meaningful career that offers opportunities of promotion and travel,” Springer added. Numerous sets of materials are being sent out to Caribbean national hotel associations for use in activities and conferences as well as distribution in schools and universities.
The main objectives of the Career Wave campaign are to inform the Caribbean youth of the wide array of opportunities offered in their own country by the tourism industry as well as the potential for growing personnel demand, and to confer tourism industry jobs more social and professional prestige than they currently project. On the long-term, CHA is striving to increase the numbers of qualified Caribbean nationals in the tourism industry, ultimately maximizing the benefits tourism can have for the local communities.
The Career Wave campaign is one of the components of CHA’s strong commitment to tourism industry human resources development in the Caribbean. Among other projects, CHA launched recently a Caribbean on-line Career Center, operated by Hcareers.
The Caribean Tourism Career Wave was developed jointly by the Product Development department and the Communications department of CHA as a component of the Caribbean Tourism Credentialing Program (CTCP), with the financial contribution of the Multilateral Investment Fund (MIF) of the Interamerican Development Bank (IDB), on a mandate to enhance awareness about the career prospects available from the travel and tourism industry.
Theodore is the Co-Founder and Managing Editor of TravelDailyNews Media Network; his responsibilities include business development and planning for TravelDailyNews long-term opportunities.
