ST. THOMAS, USVI (Oct. 15, 2003) οΎ– The chairman of the Caribbean Tourism Organization (CTO), Obie Wilchcombe has expressed his unconditional support for Jean Holder, CTO’s secretary general, following “an unwarranted attack” on Mr.Holder by the Caribbean Hotel Association (CHA).
“My support for the Secretary General is unequivocal. I stand with him, any criticism of the Secretary General is a criticism of me,” Mr. Wilchcombe told ministers of tourism from CTO member countries at the start of their meeting here this morning ahead of the 26th annual Caribbean Tourism Conference (CTC-26).
His comments were in response to a letter from the president of CHA demanding the immediate resignation of Mr. Holder. In the letter, which was copied to the media, the CHA president argued that the CTO secretary general was opposed to progress through cooperation.
“While I welcome the views of our friends and our partners, I am bitterly opposed to what I consider to be an unwarranted attack on a man who has earned honour in this region for taking an idea, a dream, giving it life and making it live. His commitment to the region is without contradiction. Mr Holder falls into the category of one of the very few whose lifelong work has been a commitment to the upliftment of the people the Caribbean,” the chairman commented.
“I applaud his work and when his departure from the office of the CTO arrives it will be accompanied with dignity and with the honour befitting a Caribbean Statesman,” he said.
The CTO chairman mentioned a decision taken by the ministers in June to work more closely with the private sector “with the solemn objective to build our economies so that we might be better able to feed the poor, heal the sick and bring peace to every heart”. CTO, in collaboration with the CHA and the World Tourism Organization Business Council (WTOBC), has since organized a successful seminar on public/private sector cooperation.
“I wish to re-emphasize my commitment to the Private/Public Sector relationship of cooperation in the interest of Caribbean Tourism and in the interest of our people. I therefore ask that we remind ourselves of the reasons we sit where we are. It is not about us, it is about our people.
“I call for an ego-freeze. To allow for the warmth of our personalities and the synergy of our commonalities and the spirit of unity to prevail,” he said.
Some 600 delegates, including ministers, commissioners and directors of tourism, travel agents, hoteliers, cruise operators, tourism suppliers and industry professionals, have gathered at the Marriott Frenchman’s Reef Resort for CTC-26 which opens tomorrow.
They will explore various strategies to build on the positive signs of recovery that are emerging in the region’s tourism industry. The first session dubbed, Stronger Together: Cooperative Strategies for Recovery and Growth will deal with various national and regional models of public/private sector cooperation and how these models contribute to recovery and growth of the tourism industry in respective areas of the world.
About the Caribbean Tourism Organization
The Caribbean Tourism Organization (CTO), with headquarters in Barbados and marketing operations in New York, London and Toronto, is the Caribbean’s tourism development agency and comprises membership of 32 governments and a myriad of private sector companies.
The CTO’s mission is to provide to and through its members, the services and information needed for the development of sustainable tourism for the economic and social benefit of the Caribbean people. The organization provides specialized support and technical assistance to member countries in the areas of marketing, human resource development, research and statistics and sustainable development.
