Since its creation in 1986, the CHTA Education Foundation (CHTAEF) through the generous support of Caribbean Hotel & Tourism Association member hotels and allied partners and its corporate sponsors has raised and granted over US$2.5 million in scholarships and grants to Caribbean nationals working in, or training to work in the tourism industry.
One of its core commitments is the development of current professionals in the industry. And to this end, and in partnership with its corporate sponsors Interval International and Virgin Holidays, CHTAEF has created and rolled out a new program which focuses of short courses to provide immediate benefit to the staff and the hotels in which they work. The new on-island training courses aim to further develop a variety of skills for full time working industry professionals without requiring long absences from their homes and hotels. These series of one-day training courses include disciplines including customer service, housekeeping and supervisor and manager training, to name a few.
To date nearly 300 hotel and tourism professionals have participated in these courses in Barbados and Aruba alone, and additional courses are scheduled in St. Lucia, St Maarten and Tobago in the upcoming months, with more islands to follow.
President of the Tobago Hotel and Tourism Association (THTA) Chris James, where 2 one-day customer service training courses are scheduled for October stated “WOW! the 2-days sold-out at record speed! Our members clearly see this opportunity in October as a way for their teams to access a modern guest-focused training day that will serve as a booster as we all prepare for next season.”
Karolin Troubetzkoy, Chairman, CHTA Education Foundation stated, “A key focus for [the CHTA Education Foundation] has been delivering on the National Hotel & Tourism Associations requested ‘on-the-ground’ training of active team members.”
CHTAEF plans to increase its funding of these training courses which assist in the professional development of our industry to more islands in 2020. More information about these training courses can be found on the CHTA Education Foundation page or by contacting foundation@caribbeanhotelandtourism.com
