SLHTA brings back Chefs' Table

SLHTA Chefs' Table Committee in charge of meeting schedule and agenda

The first Chef's Table of 2018 will be held on September 7 at Bay Gardens Hotel.

The Chefs' Table is a once monthly get together of large and boutique hotels to network and discuss various topics of interest to the industry.

The Chef's Table committee consists of the following SLHTA members: Mr Winston Anderson, Mr Ross Stevenson, Mr Paul Collymore, Mrs Bertha Parle.

The Chefs' table committee will be identifying important topics and scheduling them for discussion each month, as well as pinpointing the organizations that are best suited to address members on those topics.

With focus on restoring the regularity of Chef's Table, the executive body has begun planning for the next few meetings. It was recommended to host Chefs' Table on the last Friday of every month.
Congratulations to
The Body Holiday
2018 Virtuoso Best of the Best winner
Best Wellness Program

On the heels of announcing its  top destination, cruise and lifestyle partners ,  Virtuoso  named the winners of its 2018 Best of the Best awards.  Virtuoso  honored 2018’s top 10 hotels and hoteliers to an audience of 1,700 of luxury travel’s most principal figures at its 30th annual travel week.

Congratulations to The Body Holiday for capturing the Best Wellness Program award.

Awards were determined by vote. Over 1,000 travel agency members and their 17,500 professional travel advisers chimed in, along with insight by editors of Virtuoso Life Magazine.

BodyHoliday features wellness offerings in a gorgeous Caribbean setting, including healthy and delicious meals, spa treatments, and yoga and other outdoor fitness, while also providing luxury accommodations, expert staff and excellent service. “They take wellness the extra step ahead of the almost 150 wellness spas I have visited in my many years in the business. The facilities, located on a small beautiful beach, include many fitness activities each day including sailing, hiking, biking, spinning, boxing, golf and more. The experience was delightful!” – Karen Benson, Travel Experts... READ MORE
SLHTA Congratulates Karina Abraham & Cheyenne Hippolyte
“The enthusiasm and passion generated among the team members who represent St. Lucia at regional and international competitions make it an extremely valuable and empowering experience for them. The SLHTA is proud to give many of them the opportunity to show their regional counterparts what they’re capable of, and the awesome talents that St. Lucia produces. It’s a pleasure to support gifted young culinarians like Karina and Cheyenne and to help lay the groundwork for St. Lucia to ultimately become a world-renowned culinary destination, where our local chefs can showcase the fantastic dishes and flavours St. Lucia has to offer, and which are unique and indigenous to our island.” said Roderick... READ MORE
SLHTA Champions Cup Tournament is well Advanced into Group Stages

The SLHTA Champions Cup Tournament has moved into high gear as the teams prepare for the final stages of the group matches. 

This year’s tournament kicked off August 11 and features a medley of 16 teams organized into four groups (Group A, Group B, Group C and Group D). It is scheduled to run over a period of six weeks with matches being played weekly until Saturday, September 22.

So far matches have been played at Marigot Playing Field, Soufriere Mini Stadium, Anse la Raye Playing Field and the La Clery Playing Field. There are still four more matches left to be played before the competition advances to the quarter final stage... Read More

SLHTA MEETINGS/EVENTS
SLHTA’s Environmental Committee Meeting taking on four hot topics for the Hospitality Sector and Saint Lucia in general.
 
Update on Emergent Renewable Energy emergence in St. Lucia –
·        The committee’s celebrated the opening 3MW Solar Farm at La Tourney. That this now provides the grid with 3% of the Island’s power being supplied via renewable sources.
·        Further discussions on how best the hospitality sector could partner with Renewable Energies via seeking more private sector participation in Renewable Energies within St. Lucia. The SLHTA had also called for Renewable Energies as they become more abundant within the grit to be purchasable via a “Green Power Certification” process.
 
UN C-Cool (Caribbean Cooling Initiative) Project –
·        The UN C-Cool project headed by Loreto Duffy Mayers was highlighted to the committee – The project is looking at a funded exchange program for exchanging inefficient Air Conditioning & Refrigeration with new Ultra Efficient equipment Saving 50+ % of the current power used for the same amount of cooling. 
·        Follow up was requested from the committee to indicate if they would be interested in participating in the UN C-Cool program and their willingness to undertake an initial survey which would provide the data needed for implementation.
 
iWaSP Project for Recycling Plastic (A GIZ Project) – In a nutshell Mr. Horst Vogel of GIZ –CATS
·        Mr. Vogel’s presentation was a call to action both on the need to continue to pursue waste segregation and also hotel sector advocacy for improvements to the issues of general waste management within Saint Lucia. The specific focus at this time is on PET plastic bottle waste. 
·        Carl Hunter of Anse Chastanet & Jade Mountain Resorts spoke of how the resorts have been working hard at finding alternatives for single use plastics within their respective operations – There has been a lot of success in this area.
Free Oil and Grease Collection for Re-use by a company called Niven Eco Oil out of Barbados -  
·         Carl Hunter gave an overview of what Eco Oil is proposing for St. Lucia which is a free used waste oil and grease collection service. The owner Mr. Niven is keen to know if we would be interested in this service and the typical volumes of waste oils and grease we generate monthly.

The committee plans to meet again in the next 6 weeks and continues to encourage membership and participation. 
CHTA/CTO NEWS
T he Islands of The Bahamas are proud to host this year’s State of Tourism Industry Conference (SOTIC) at Atlantis, Paradise Island on October 1-5, 2018. Members of the Bahamas Ministry of Tourism and Aviation will lead this year’s conference, which is themed “Rejuvenate. Recreate. Reconnect. New Directions for Caribbean Tourism” and invite partners to attend the important annual summit.
 
The Bahamas, a leader in the region and tourism industry, will be the gathering point for industry professionals, policymakers and strategic partners from the public and private sectors throughout the Caribbean for a week of events, discussions and ideation surrounding the key issues and opportunities for enhancing tourism in the region.

The Caribbean Tourism Organization, in collaboration with the Cayman Islands Department of Tourism, will be hosting the 9th Tourism Human Resources Conference from 28-30 November 2018.

The main aim of the Tourism Human Resources Conference is to bring together tourism practitioners from both the public and private sectors, human resource professionals, tourism educators/trainers and consultants as well as tourism & hospitality students of tertiary institutions to share strategies and best practices on areas and issues affecting the tourism and hospitality sectors, to provide updated information on various aspects of tourism’s development, to enhance skills and to allow opportunities for professional networking.

Theme: “Building a Resilient, High-performing & Sustainable Caribbean Tourism Workforce for Global Competitiveness.”
 
MEMBERSHIP NEWS
Sandals Foundation Scholarship Holders Get Involved and Get Their Hands Dirty

A number Sandals Foundation Scholarship Recipients joined several team members from Sandals Resorts in Saint Lucia last week, to help with painting and repairs at the Marchand Combined School ahead of students returning for the new school term.

The Sandals Foundation, the philanthropic arm of Sandals Resorts International, supports 17 children on scholarship at varying levels of secondary and tertiary education. While some of these students will graduate from the Sir Arthur Lewis Community College at the upcoming 2018 graduation ceremony, 10 of the younger ones will enter third form at their secondary schools of choice. Many of these students would have achieved over 80% at the Common Entrance exam therefore qualifying for the Sandals Foundation Scholarship... READ MORE