Remarks by Hugh Riley, Secretary General & Chief Executive Officer
Official Opening of Hotel and Restaurant Workers’ Week, Barbados
Sunday, August 8th, 2010
It is a pleasure and a great honor to be here with you today and to have been invited to share a few thoughts with you on the business of tourism. As someone who is employed by the People of the Caribbean, at a regional institution – the Caribbean Tourism Organization – my remarks will largely be of a regional nature, seeing that at CTO we represent 34 countries and a variety of private sector entities across the Caribbean.
But considering that I am also Bajan, I am particularly proud to be here among my compatriots on this important occasion – the opening of the BWU’s Hotel & Restaurant Workers Week in Barbados. As we all know only too well, the tourism industry world wide is facing the toughest challenges that any of us have ever seen. Fortunately the economic downturn has led to:
• Increased collaboration between governments, unions, and the private sector in an effort to reduce layoffs and employee dislocation
• The creation of national and regional coalitions including the financial services sector
• Stimulus packages of one kind or another
• Improved access to capital for maintaining and upgrading facilities
• A dedicated focus on training and improvement in service quality
• Encouragement of entrepreneurship
• Attempts at collaborative marketing on a regional basis
• Renewed emphasis on new-market strategies
• The aggressive pursuit of new air services
• Re-engagement of Caribbeans living overseas – an impressive example being Barbados’ own BFF program which I think is just excellent
• A renewed interest in intra-regional tourism
• Renewed search for extra-regional funding; and
• An intense interest in research
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Caribbean Tourism – The Way Forward; UWI
Friday, December 11, 2009
Welcome to December 11th!!
I have found it impossible to carry on the heavy burden of responsibility and to discharge my duties, as I would wish to do, without the help and support of the woman I love. The actual quote was ……."I have found it impossible to carry on the heavy burden of responsibility and to discharge the duties of king, as I would wish to do, without the help and support of the woman I love."
That was December 11th 1936; so after ruling for less than a year, Edward VIII became the first English monarch to voluntarily abdicate the throne. He chose to leave after the British government, public, and the Church of England condemned his decision to marry the American divorcée Wallis Warfield Simpson. So on the evening of December 11th, Edward VIII gave a radio address in which he explained that he was quitting what at the time was the most powerful job in the universe, to pursue what today is still the most powerful attraction in the universe. ...
One of the most fascinating aspects of the business we’re in – the tourism industry, is the fact that interwoven into its very fabric are cultural elements – seen and unseen – which are integral to the attractiveness and enjoyment of the product we package and sell. And those elements are to be found throughout the length and breadth of the Caribbean - this fascinating region of 40 million people with a rich cultural and historical diversity, four main language groups and a potpourri of dialects.
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