July 19, 2010
“We need to remind our own people that tourism business means jobs, not only in the hotels but for taxis, restaurants and the farmers and fishermen that fill the restaurants. Tourism means work for the seamstresses, craftspeople, shopkeepers and manufacturers and the deliverymen and trash collectors. We must continue our efforts so that everyone understands that the tourism industry feeds the economic chain and builds strength in the human resource development of our youth.” – Josef Forstmayr, President, Caribbean Hotel and Tourism Association (Travel Weekly)
“It is important that the entire nation knows what the Mighty Sparrow has done for us, so we have entered him in The Congressional Record.” – Congresswoman Yvette Clarke (Jamaica Gleaner)
“You can set standards for a hotel operation, but the standards need to be carried out by a team that wholeheartedly embraces them and has the ambition to excel in everything they do. We do not only want to meet guest expectations with our service, we want to exceed them every step of the way, and our team shares this philosophy.” – Karolin Troubetzkoy, Executive Director, Marketing and Operations, Jade Mountain, Saint Lucia
“Doing things halfway is a waste of time, since it might be the other half that counts.” –
Josea Browne, Revenue and Catering Manager, Mango Bay Group of companies (Barbados Nation)
“A lot of monies been shelled out by Trinidad and Tobago [with] no accountability, no transparency…we just cannot continue to do things in that way and each time there is a shortfall we cannot continue like Trinidad and Tobago is an ATM card … you come in you put the card there and you come back out with cash. It just cannot happen anymore.” – Kamla Persad-Bissessar, Prime Minister, Trinidad and Tobago (CMC)
“The CTO (Caribbean Tourism Organization) is steadfast in its commitment to developing the region’s human resource capacity and supporting a well trained, competent and efficient work force so that the Caribbean tourism sector can attract the best and brightest minds.” – Bonita Morgan, Director of Human Resources, Caribbean Tourism Organization
“I am glad that the gentleman from American Airlines can express so easily what many of us feel like when we get to our destinations within the Caribbean area….and have to face immigration and customs…and guess what? I am Caribbean! Shameful and quite frankly tired of it!” – Rosemary Parkinson, Author