Caribbean tourism businesses must adapt to succeed, according to the President of the Caribbean Hotel and Tourism Association, Karolin Troubetzkoy.
Troubetzkoy sees the upcoming Caribbean Hospitality Industry Exchange Forum as an opportunity for hotels and tourism-related businesses to take stock and to “open our eyes to the bigger picture, which is so important if we want to succeed not only as individual businesses and destinations but also as a region.”
Speaking to reporters in Miami, where the CHTA is headquartered, she said the second annual forum, which is slated for the El Conquistador Resort in Puerto Rico from September 30 to October 2, 2016, will build on the success of last year’s forum.
She said the upcoming exchange is an especially important one since 2016 and proven so far to be a year of significant change and challenges for the Caribbean hospitality industry.
At the forum, hoteliers will also explore the impact of the growing sharing economy led by Airbnb, VRBO and HomeAway.
With the Caribbean region poised to surpass the 30 million mark in visitor arrivals for the first time this year, Troubetzkoy believes the traditional accommodations industry must be prepared to understand shifting consumer motivations and find creative ways to make the sharing economy work to its advantage.
High on the agenda of issues currently impacting the region’s tourism sector are: the effects of Zika, the Brexit outcome, increases in global terrorism risks, high airfares, rising hotel operating costs, and effective marketing efforts.
“At CHIEF there will be a healthy dose of peer-to-peer exchanges to flush out ideas and best practices. There is no doubt that Caribbean hotels and destinations which adapt to change and are prepared to deal with uncertainty are better positioned to come out ahead,” Troubetzkoy said.