Berthia Parle. New CHA President

The St Lucian hotelier Berthia Parle was elected President of the Caribbean Hotel Association for the next three years. She’ll be replacing Simon Suarez, from the Dominican Republic. In her first year in the post she’ll be sharing the responsibility with Mr. Suarez. The announcement came up at the Caribbean Hotel Industry Conference 2003 held this week in the Dominican resort of Playa Bavaro.

She was CHA First Vice President before her designation. Parle heads the Hotel and Tourism Association of St Lucia and seats at its Council of Tourism. She is also the manager of the Bay Gardens Hotel in that island State.

At a Barbados Hotel and Tourism Association meeting in Bridgetown recently, she had called for better regional tourism cooperation to bolster the Caribbean’s competitive advantage in the marketplace.

The then CHA First Vice President added that given the rising cost of doing business and the low returns from heavy discounts in the marketplace, hoteliers and tourism companies ought to be more creative and strategic in sharpening their competitive tools.

Parle suggested pursuing "co-opetition" among all players, and cited the Life Needs the Caribbean regional marketing initiative as a good example of it. The inititative means that destinations and attractions are able to pool their resources strategically to promote the Caribbean as a preferred, total quality destination, while encouraging competitiveness through creating value packages and enhancing visitor experiences.