TOURISM MATTERS

Eroline Lamontagne of the Fond Doux Plantation & Resort, captures the Green Hotelier of the year award!

As the world celebrated Earth Day, Caribbean Journal awarded Eroline Lamontagne of the Fond Doux Plantation & Resort as the Green Hotelier of the year.

Every day is Earth Day at the Fond Doux Plantation & Resort. As a strong supporter of the Paris agreement, the plantation resort is doing all in its power to help reduce its carbon footprint. The Green Globe certified locally owned, managed and staffed plantation resort continues to lead by example with their sustainability efforts and have made outstanding contributions to the solution of reducing single use plastics. Plastic bags for bagging at the gift shop has been replaced with paper bags and the portioned controlled in-room hair and body products are replaced with dispensers. Fond Doux Plantation & Resort has also discontinued the use of plastic cups, straws, plates and plastic cutlery and has replaced with biodegradable products... READ MORE

WEEK OF WORKERS (WOW)

The Saint Lucia Trade Union Federation (TUF) has collaborated with the Employers Federation, Labour Department and the Saint Lucia Hotel and Tourism Association to create awareness and focus on Occupational Safety and Health day (OSH) observed on April 28 and Labour Day on May 1 annually.

We have designated a Week of Workers (WOW) to mark the observance of both days. The theme focuses on “A Safe and Healthy Future of Work”. Among the aims of the Week of Workers (WOW) is to improve both the employers and employees knowledge of good workplace practices and enhance their morale, efficiency and productivity.

The following includes a list of planned events in observance of Occupational Safety and Health day (OSH) and Labour Day 2019.

Radio and Television program Appearances – April 23- 30th
May Day Rally @ CSA Center – Wednesday May 1st
Soccerama @ Flow grounds, Corinth – Sunday May 5th
Panel Discussion – Thursday May 9th
Women’s Forum

The public and members participation is encouraged.

MESSAGE FROM THE SLHTA ENVIRONMENTAL COMMITTEE AND COMMITTEE CHAIRMAN CARL HUNTER:

Here is everything you should know about the

UNISDR/NEMO/arise

Disaster Risk Reduction Training

which took place from April 4-5 ^th 2019

How Resilient is your Business?

The good news is that typically Hospitality is better prepared than most businesses. That said in the exercise held on Thursday & Friday April 4 & 5 ^th we learnt that all of us have gaps to close.

With Climate Change driving ever increasing storm intensity coupled with our region’s vulnerability to tsunami and earthquake events we must be better prepared.

Four important things to do now are:

1. Check and revise your hurricane plans . Be mindful of the CAT 5 storm that hit Dominica. It is likely that your plan is based on dealing with a storm of up to a max. CAT 3 however we cannot be so comfortable given what happened in 2017 to our sister island.

2. Join the UNISDR arise network https://www.preventionweb.net/arise/

3. Download the CAP.CAP app to your phone – receive early warnings and alerts during disasters for your community in real time.

4. Read through and score the risk assessment below .

Score 1-4 for the respective columns (red, orange, yellow & green) and see how resilient you are.

· Below 10 – There’s a lot to do but you have taken the first step to identify the work to be done.

· 10-20 - Still a fair bit to do but it’s clear that you already have some resilience elements embedded within your organization. Do more.

· 20-30 - You are doing well seek to drill down on the remaining areas start with those most critical to your operation and those which will help you get back to business and stay in business after a major natural disaster.

· 30-40 - You are in a good place – Refinements may still be needed. Focus on closing the remaining gaps to ensure that you are a great resilient organization. You will also have a lot to contribute by way of best practice sharing to “arise” network.

Your Score________________

Additional useful links from UNISDR:

Disaster Risk Management for Coastal Tourism Destinations Responding to Climate Change - A Practical Guide for Decision Makers http://apell.eecentre.org/ResourceDetailInfo.aspx?ReadDetails/id=47

Disaster Risk Reduction in Tourism:

http://apell.eecentre.org/ResourceDetailInfo.aspx?ReadDetails/id=49

Windjammer Management Team Members Swap Job Roles

Minimart Manager was Director of Property Services

Ms Michelle Sonson - “I never knew that I had so much walking to do as Director of Property Services. RED BULL IS A MUST for Ms. Joseph. My feet still hurt!”

Assistant Food and Beverage Director was Reservations Manager

Mr. Rene Lucien: “I never knew that guests gave so much information about their credit cards to the sales team. They trust them 100%!”

SLHTA attends Stakeholder Consultation

The Department of Education, Innovation and Gender Relations through the Technical and Vocational Education Training (TVET) Unit on Wednesday 24 ^th April, 2019 held a Stakeholder consultation at the National Skills Development Centre.

The meeting was held with the purpose of instituting evidence based decision making and practice informed by interdisciplinary knowledge, research, data and demand to help reduce the incidence of skills mismatched in Saint Lucia.

A critical aspect of this drive is the interface between industry players and entities involved in education and training to develop a system that ensures that education and training is in the alignment with the demands of industry and industry plays a more meaningful role in TVET.

Key items on the agenda were TVET Trainer Immersion Program, Industry-led apprenticeship Programme and TVET Course Rationalization. It was highlighted that the very first TVET Trainer Immersion Program was supported by the Saint Lucia Hotel and Tourism Association.

https://www.facebook.com/SLHTA/videos/2215104635184593/

https://myemail.constantcontact.com/Linkages-in-Tourism-Tradeshow-2018---Sorry-you-missed-it---Summer-Internship-for-Food-and-Nutrition-Teachers-Heats-Up---More-New.html?soid=1109087067672&aid=tn_etDkTWCs

SLHTA Security Liaison Officer attends Crime Victimization Survey Course & Launch

Mr. Anthony Martial, Crime Security Liaison Officer from the Saint Lucia Hotel and Tourism Association attended the recently held launch of the 2019 Crime Victimization Survey (CVS) for Saint Lucia and a training course on Crime Victimization Surveys. The launch was held on Tuesday, April 9, 2019 and the course immediately after from April 9 – 12, 2019.

The course was organized by the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) Barbados and the Eastern Caribbean, through the CariSECURE Project and the Central Statistical Office in Saint Lucia. The Ministry of Home Affairs, Justice and National Security was also an integral partner in this project. The project aims to strengthen evidence-based decision making for citizen security by improving the quality and quantity of crime data collected while building the capacity of the individuals involved in the sector to analyze the data.

The Saint Lucia CVS is a critical component of CariSECURE. The primary objective is to accurately ascertain the magnitude of victimization within a country and more specifically, crime levels and trends, perceptions of public safety, the impact of crime on society and vulnerable groups and the level of public confidence in the criminal justice system and its actors.