Corporate News

Planeterra and CTO Launch Partnership Focused On Scaling Up

BRIDGETOWN, Barbados (6 Aug 2021) – The Caribbean Tourism Organization (CTO) and the leading global community tourism non-profit based in Canada, Planeterra, have joined forces to support community tourism in CTO member countries.

This strategic partnership aims to scale up community tourism throughout the Caribbean with the goal to enhance the social, economic and environmental well-being of communities in the region. The organisations will be seeking funding to build the capacity of enterprises, while encouraging community tourism enterprises towards the training and mentorship offered by Planeterra’s Global Community Tourism Network.

“Four years ago the CTO launched a programme to support the continued development of community-based tourism in the Caribbean. This partnership with Planeterra is a further step in our regional tourism development strategy to support entrepreneurship and community development, and is timely in this current environment where we are restarting tourism.  The participation of local communities in the tourism product is a significant part of distributing the benefits of tourism to all aspects of our societies” said Neil Walters, the CTO’s acting secretary general.

Many community tourism enterprises have the ability to change lives and keep tourism dollars in the hands of local people, but they lack the support and training needed to develop product offerings, capture the travel market and draw enough customers. To address this, Planeterra launched the Global Community Tourism Network, which seeks to change the face of travel by putting communities at the centre of tourism’s efforts, and to connect them to travel businesses that can help them to build back better after the pandemic. This Network comprises more than 270 community tourism enterprises in 70 countries, all gaining training, mentorship and connection through Planeterra’s online resources and team, as well as market access.

“Planeterra is eager to partner with CTO to help communities gain access to the resources, community, and mentorship our organisation provides,” said Planeterra President Jamie Sweeting. “We are hopeful that this partnership will lead to an increase in support for community tourism in the Caribbean, and will increase the social, economic and environmental benefits that host communities see from the tourism industry.”

For more information on the Global Community Tourism Network, please visit communitytourism.org.

About Planeterra

Planeterra is the world’s leading non-governmental organization turning travel into impact in communities. Planeterra helps local organizations and communities use tourism as a catalyst to improve people’s lives, protect their natural environments, and celebrate their culture. Put simply, it is a better kind of tourism – improving the lives of community members as they provide travellers with better experiences. Planeterra is more than just an agent of change and driver of communal well-being, they are tested and trusted builders of self-esteem and pride. Pride that we can all share as well as take pleasure in – from uplifting communities through tourism.

CTO Launches Caribbean Community Tourism Network

BRIDGETOWN, Barbados (28 July, 2021) – Tourism product development authorities in the region now have a resource from which to draw when developing their community-based tourism (CBT) programmes.

The Caribbean Tourism Organization (CTO) has launched the Caribbean Community Tourism Network (CCTN) to provide a platform to support the continued development of CBT in the Caribbean. The network will facilitate the exchange of best practices among CTO member countries and interested tourism development partners and help identify capacity-building needs as well as challenges and opportunities for CBT development.

“Community-based tourism offers an opportunity to bridge the social and economic gap of local communities, allows community members a path to sustainable livelihoods, and is a conduit for the active participation and empowerment of local people in the tourism,” said Amanda Charles, the CTO’s sustainable tourism specialist. “This network provides an avenue for CTO members to share knowledge, resources, and best practices to improve community tourism experiences and economic impact.”

Among the functions of the CCTN are the promotion and support of regional development strategies in CBT, providing input into, and recommending activities and actions with a view to enhancing the visibility and value of CBT as a regional tourism product, and the exchange of experiences on national and regional initiatives.

The network is one of the initiatives of the CTO, which has identified CBT as a regional tourism development strategy, and is seeking to optimise its role in  supporting local livelihoods, stimulating entrepreneurship  and community social and economic development, while also creating authentic experiences and unique product offerings for visitors.

Other initiatives include a toolkit for product development, produced in partnership with the Compete Caribbean Partnership Facility (CCPF). The toolkit includes a “how to” guide to assist communities and entrepreneurs develop profitable CBT experiences and enterprises, with information on product development, pricing, marketing and creating business plans. It also includes guidelines and templates to support experience design and product enhancement and a tool to measures communities’ capacity and CBT states of readiness.

Skift and CTO to Host Webinar on Recovery of Caribbean Sector, Global Trends

July 14, 2021 (BRIDGETOWN, Barbados) — The Allied Members of the Caribbean Tourism Organization (CTO) have partnered with leading global business travel outlet Skift to host their first joint webinar, ‘The Trends Driving Travel’s Big Rebound: Implications for the Caribbean’ on Thursday, July 22 at 11 a.m. EST, featuring Skift CEO and Founder Rafat Ali, global tourism reporter Lebawit “Lily” Girma, and host William “Billy” Griffith, Chairman of CTO Allied Members Board.

“The Caribbean is a vital and historic region in global tourism. As travel resumes worldwide, this is the perfect time to kick off an exciting partnership between the CTO and Skift,” said Griffith. “Examining global trends through a regional lens is key to aligning business goals moving forward for tourism professionals throughout the Caribbean.”

Consisting of industry stakeholders in the Caribbean region, the Allied Members of the CTO are the non-government members of the organization, representing a range of businesses and other entities with interest in the Caribbean tourism sector. Viewers are invited to this discussion covering the recovery of the Caribbean, where speakers will dissect global travel trends and place them in a Caribbean context. The webinar will cover how the pandemic has impacted and shaped Caribbean recovery, including:

• Identification of the main travel marketing cohorts post-pandemic
• New innovations, subscription travel, and their benefits
• Impact of the short-term rental market on local tourism
• The rising costs of travel
• Climate change and its influence on business travel

Speakers:

Rafat Ali is the CEO/founder of Skift, the most influential business media company in global travel, providing news, research, events, and marketing services. Previously, he was the founder/CEO of paidContent and ContentNext, which he sold to UK’s Guardian News and Media in 2008, and left in 2010. Prior to that, he was managing editor of Silicon Alley Reporter. Rafat was the Knight Fellow at Indiana University, where he completed his Masters in Journalism, 1999-2000. Prior to that, he completed his BSc in Computer Engineering, from AMU in Aligarh, India.

Lebawit Lily Girma is Skift’s global tourism reporter. Prior to joining Skift, Lily built a distinguished career as an award-winning travel journalist focused on sustainable tourism and the Caribbean region. In addition to Skift, her work has been published and referenced in major outlets, including BBC, CNN, Washington Post, and Travel and Leisure, among others. In 2020, Forbes featured Lily as one of “15 Black Travel Writers to Read Now, and she is also a recipient of the Caribbean Tourism Organization’s Marcia Vickery Wallace award for excellence in travel journalism.

 About Skift:

Skift is the most influential business media and marketing company in global travel, providing news, research, live events and marketing services to all sectors of the world’s largest industry. Skift identifies and synthesizes existing and emerging trends in its daily coverage of the global travel industry and through its Skift Research  practice. Skift also produces Skift Global Forum annually to bring together the biggest CEOs and the most influential professionals in the travel industry to discuss the future of travel.

Jamaica Firm Selected to Conduct CTO’s Tourism HR Knowledge and Skills Audit

BRIDGETOWN, Barbados (9 April, 2021) – A Jamaican firm has been selected by the regional tourism development agency, the Caribbean Tourism Organization (CTO), to conduct its first-ever regional skills audit to assess the competencies of the Caribbean tourism workforce.

After a comprehensive process for procuring consultancy services to undertake this project, A-Z Information Jamaica Ltd. was chosen to conduct this critical tourism human resources audit, as the industry seeks to navigate the next phase of Caribbean tourism and strategically plan for its future.

The exercise – funded by the Caribbean Development Bank (CDB) to the tune of US$124,625 – is aimed at assessing the levels of knowledge and competencies of the Caribbean tourism workforce and identifying future skills needs for the region’s tourism and hospitality industry.

“A- Z is deeply honoured to have been selected to execute this strategically pivotal project in collaboration with the CTO at such an unprecedented moment in the history of our region and people. The convergence of the potentially crippling impact of the COVID-19 pandemic and the rapidly growing effects of climate change present us with a unique opportunity in this regional HR audit of the industry’s current leadership and workforce knowledge, skills and attitudes,” said chief executive officer, Dr. Noel Watson. “We look forward to working together to help define and frame the profile of the creative, innovative and resilient tourism sector leadership and workforce that will help fashion 21st century Caribbean tourism.”

From an initial 12 companies expressing interest in providing consultancy services for the project, the Kingston-based firm was among four finalists invited to submit comprehensive proposals, and ultimately emerged the top-ranked firm.

Backed by a network of employment and labour market researchers, tourism academics and practitioners and strategic human resources planning and development experts, A-Z has a solid regional footing and extensive experience working around the region on various large research focused projects, including labour market needs assessments, workforce strategies and plans, and human resources audits.

The main goal of this project, which begins this month, is to help Caribbean tourism planners and policymakers better understand how to most effectively leverage human resource development for a more innovative and competitive industry.

Among other objectives, it will seek to identify the specific leadership and workforce competencies required to meet the current and future needs of the region’s tourism sector and provide a detailed review of the critical skill sets and resources necessary for the development of a sustainable, high-performing Caribbean tourism workforce. It’s also expected to provide valuable information and recommendations that will assist with the development of policies and better planned interventions related to human capital.

Data obtained from the audit will contribute to effective human resource planning for the tourism industry in the region by providing a framework for decision-making, to guide the development and refinement of tourism education and training programmes by academic and training institutions in order to reduce skills gaps and mismatches and bring about more sustainable synergies.