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Strengthening Small Businesses Is a Big Deal, Say CHTA/OAS

20-07-22

Strengthening the resilience of Caribbean small tourism enterprises (STEs) is critical to the region's recovery from the COVID-19 pandemic and future crises, according to the Caribbean Hotel and Tourism Association (CHTA) and the Organisation of American States (OAS).

Ahead of an OAS-sponsored high-level meeting of Caribbean tourism leaders in Montego Bay, Jamaica, this week, which will discuss business continuity planning to accelerate post-disaster recovery, CHTA President Nicola Madden-Greig said the viability of tourism service businesses is vitally important to the region's recovery from the COVID-19 pandemic and other potential crises.

Hosted by the Jamaican Ministry of Tourism at the Holiday Inn Montego Bay Resort on 20-21 July, attendees at the OAS meeting will explore how to increase the resilience of Caribbean business enterprises to disasters and will discuss and respond to the findings and recommendations of more than 500 businesses and stakeholders to help accelerate business continuity in the face of future crises.

"The challenges to business continuity for Caribbean ECEs after a disaster are many and varied," said Madden-Greig, a respected Jamaican hotelier and leader of the regional trade association. "It can take more than two years for ECEs to recover financially from a catastrophe, so we must find ways to help them get back on their feet sooner and with healthy working capital and strong business development possibilities," he added.

Pablo Gonzalez, Senior Specialist and Head of the OAS Risk Management and Climate Change Adaptation Programme, said the multilateral institution looks forward to the high-level forum, the overall expected outcome of which is the improvement of public and institutional policies for building resilience of ECEs with the ultimate goal of reducing business disruptions.

According to González, research indicates that initiatives such as more targeted training for business enterprises, marketing and public relations education, contingency planning and tax incentives are measures that could be taken by both the public and private sectors to help business enterprises to be less adversely affected by disasters and crisis situations.

As tourism businesses recover from the negative impact of the COVID-19 pandemic, the importance of crisis communication strategies will also be discussed, as well as the proposed launch of a post-disaster "Open Guide for Business" model developed by the University of the West Indies, a partner in the OAS project, to help strengthen the resilience of tourism businesses.

Cabinet ministers and senior tourism officials from more than 50 countries in the Americas will discuss ways to forge collaboration among all stakeholders, between public and private entities, and between small and large businesses.

The virtual and face-to-face event has also attracted the participation of the Caribbean Tourism Organisation (CTO); the University of the West Indies (UWI); the Caribbean Disaster Emergency Management Agency (CDEMA); and the US Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA). The sessions will be held in English and Spanish.

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