Animated PM raps

Caribbean disunity

By PATRICK McGREGOR

Senior Freeport News Reporter

Rhythmically snapping his fingers and moving to the sounds of The Royal

Bahamas Police Force Band's rendition of the renowned soca group Bahamen's

"Junkanoo," Prime Minister Perry G. Christie delivered an explosive keynote address to attendees of the 25th Annual Caribbean Tourism Conference.

Under the theme "Re-inventing Caribbean Tourism" the conference is being held at Our Lucaya's Grand Ballroom.

During the address, described by some members of the Caribbean

press as the most challenging ever at a CTC conference, Prime

Minister Christie stated that, as he listened and looked around the region,

he is still not convinced that Caribbean members understand that Caribbean

"reinvention" must happen with a sense of urgency.

"While we were debating the merits and demerits of tourism and sorting out

the differences between service and servitude, our competitors jumped in

feet-first, and created not only the world's largest industry, but also the

world's most competitive industry," he said.

"From Cuba to China, from New York to Hong Kong, from Disney to Universal

Studios," Mr Christie observed, "the competition for visitors has never been tougher."

The Prime Minister further charged that if the Caribbean believes it can

successfully compete with the aforementioned tourism giants with the same

inattention and benign neglect, it will find that it will be run over,

despite being on the right track.

Emphasizing the need for new approaches, beginning with

creating "the Caribbean," Mr Christie noted that regionally, the Caribbean is

only created at conferences, and there is little contact between meetings

and little collaboration outside of the conferences, thus little exchange of

ideas.

He further noted that the Caribbean countries see themselves as

"mortal competitors."

"If the definition of madness is doing the same things over and over again,

while expecting a different result, then we are mad in this region," he

stated. "Mistakes made in The Bahamas are repeated in Jamaica, in Aruba and

throughout the region."

Prime Minister Christie further pointed to the fact that no two countries

pay the same price for the same advertising spaces in magazines, newspapers,

television or radio spots.

"We do not collaborate enough in our region on those things that will save

our Treasuries much cost and make our efforts much more effective and

efficient," he said. "There can be no reinvention of Caribbean tourism without our daily intent

to cooperate."

The Prime Minister then called for the reinvention of air transportation to

the region, further suggesting that the reinvention of the Caribbean also

called for a reinvention of the understanding of our product.

He described the product as everything in between the time that

visitors come in contact with the tourist offices to the time they board the

national or regional carrier, to the time that they arrive at their original

point.

"Reinvention requires us to stop believing that our tourism job is finished

when the visitor arrives in our country," the Prime Minister stated, adding

that tourism is the one industry in which all of the people and the

government ministries of the country are involved.

He then called for educational programmes to bring about improved service

and national awareness. He added that the improved product must be a

collaborative effort of the public and private sectors, further stating that

no amount of promotions can erase a bad experience had or reported by a

visitor.

The keynote speaker then suggested that reinvention of the Caribbean calls

for a full embrace of the Internet, noting that websites must be the most

reliable sources of information for tourism partners and customers.

The Bahamas government leader then appealed for countries to attract the

best minds to the tourism industry or fall behind in the world's largest

industry.

"We continue to allow our primary industry to be the industry of last choice

to our most highly skilled citizens," he stated. "Yet we continue to lament

the incursion of large numbers of expatriates in top positions of our

industry. Yet we continue to wonder why so much of our cuisine and culture

are never placed in front of our visitors.

"I promise you that the best of our talents can compete with the best of the

world," he continued, "and the best of our talents can deliver visitor

experiences that you and I only dream about."

The prime minister stated that no region in the world is more dependent on

tourism than the Caribbean for wealth and job creation, thus, efforts must

be made to bring the best people to shoulder the task.

"The tourism that we need to reinvent has to be about satisfying and growing

the wealth of our people," he stated, "satisfying and ensuring the

profitability of those who invest in our industry, and most of all,

satisfying and ensuring that our visitors recommend our experiences to their

friends and relatives."

Prime Minister Christie, after boasting of what the Caribbean already has,

including the best music, cuisine, art, beaches, flora and fauna, noted that

all the Caribbean needs is the world's best access, best vacation

experiences and best departure from the destination.

He added that Caribbean countries must find ways to efficiently and

effectively invite visitors, with a common Caribbean voice, in addition to

the individual national promotions that will and should continue.

"I promise you that if we get the experiences right," Mr. Christie stated,

"the return on our promotional expenditures will increase exponentially and

we will move from a region with discounting every day, to a region that is

turning people away."