This Week at the SLHTA, May 2nd, 2014

Friday, May 2nd, 2014   In This Week’s Edition POWER OF CARING BROUGHT TO THE ST BENEDICT CENTRE SLTB Diversifies Its Palette With Culinary ambassador Chef Nina Compton-Miller inducted as Honorary Member of SLHTA Stage de français en Guadeloupe 2014 Rising Star Award Caribbean 2014 Enjoy Main Stage Jazz At Heineken Beer Garden tourism as one of the key pillars of our economy Quick Links… SLHTA Website SLTB Website Creative Industries Visitor Channel St. Lucia’s Sexy Appeal 8th Wonder of the World World Travel Awards CHTA Website CTO Website Caribbean360 CaribbeanTravel UNWTO CTO Statistics SLHTA on Tumblr La Belle Helene Book St Lucia Now POWER OF CARING BROUGHT TO THE ST BENEDICT CENTRE   Five employees from the St Lucia Electricity Services Limited (LUCELEC) Generation Department recently performed an act of charity at the St Benedict Centre. The action by Graham King, Javon Desmond, Verlan Charles, Nathanial Deterville and Terry Pologne brought a needed face lift to the Centre which is located on the Morne. The clean-up and beautification exercise was held over a two day period. The men pressure washed the entire institution which they then painted. This is not the first time the Benedict Centre is benefitting from LUCELEC support. Through the LUCELEC Trust, the company donates $6,000 annually to the Centre’s feeding programme. In fact, during their voluntary works, the LUCELEC employees also stocked the purchased dry goods for the feeding programme. Mr Nathanial Deterville and Mr Graham King were recognized at the 2013 LUCELEC Annual Staff Recognition Ceremony for charitable works at the Lady Gordon Opportunity Centre. In addition, the entire Generation Team was similarly recognized by the Ministry of Education with a 2014National Award of Excellence for Outstanding Contribution Towards the Education Sector…Full Details Scrumptious Surprise For Festival Goers SLTB Diversifies Its Palette With Culinary ambassador   The Saint Lucia Tourist Board continues to dominate the international festival landscape with an ever-expanding menu of offerings for its signature showing, the Saint Lucia Jazz& Arts Festival. Included in the already star spangled lineup, is Saint Lucia’s official Culinary Ambassador, Chef Nina Compton-Miller. Nina will delight festival goers with demonstrations and tastings as part of the festival’s main stage at the Pigeon Island National Landmark. The daughter of a Saint Lucian Icon, former Prime Minister Sir John Compton, and now a national favorite and icon in her own right, Nina rallied Saint Lucia’s support of her performance on the recently concluded Season 11 of Bravo Tv’s Top Chef. As Chef de Cuisine at Scarpetta Miami in the Fontainebleau Hotel, Nina is a formidable addition to the prestigious festival.

“We’re delighted to add another dimension to our evolving festival. Over the past two years we’ve seen the festival grown to encompass an arts and craft component, and now we can say we’ve added culinary mastery to our portfolio,” acclaimed Deputy Director of Tourism Tracey Warner-Arnold.

Warner-Arnold continued “We couldn’t think of a better ambassador to introduce visitors to Saint Lucia’s culinary prowess; we are thrilled to announce Nina’s presence.”Nina Compton-Miller will appear on Saturday, May 10th at the Pigeon Island National Landmark, offering cooking demonstrations and the opportunity to sample some of her award winning signature dishes, tinged with the distinctive flavors of Saint Lucian cuisine.

Chef Nina Compton-Miller inducted as Honorary Member of SLHTA The Saint Lucia Hotel and Tourism Association’s Board of Directors, Staff and other delegates met with Chef Nina Compton-Miller at a lunch gathering to discuss opportunities for collaboration between the SLHTA and the island’s official Culinary Ambassador. The President of the SLHTA, Mrs Karolin Troubetzky along with the Executive Vice President Mr Noorani Azeez also took the opportunity to induct Chef Nina as an Honorary Member of the Saint Lucia Hotel and Tourism Association. This membership was conferred upon her as a result of her outstanding performance in the Top Chef competition and by extension making her country proud. During the luncheon, Mr. Azeez announced the SLHTA’s commitment to assisting with the refurbishment and furnishing of the culinary arts room at Chef Nina’s alma mater the Castries Comprehensive Secondary School.  Among the other initiatives discussed were support for the SLHTA’s National Culinary Team, training for local chefs, SLHTA’s Chefs in Secondary Schools program, the potential of local cuisine in raising the  profile of the destination even further and an SLHTA Cook Book featuring the creations of on-island chefs and culinary masters. Stage de français en Guadeloupe The Saint Lucia Hotel and Tourism Association (SLHTA) enters its third year of collaboration with the Institut de Cooperation Franco Caraibe (ICFC) to conduct another foreign language and internship training opportunity for employees from St Lucia in the hotel sector. The initiative will involve a two (2) week intensive French language training from 16th June – 27th June 2014 in Guadeloupe.  As part of the project the interested member property will be responsible for: Providing a letter to the SLHTA indicating your interest in the project Identifying the name(s) of the employee(s) interested in the training Cover the cost of airfare of the employee(s) to Guadeloupe (boarding and lodging will be borne by the hospitality school at which our employees will be attached in Guadeloupe) Be willing to reciprocate (accommodate the same number of Guadeloupe Hotel employees in your establishment later in the year, underwrite their cost of boarding and lodging as well) These employees will undergo two weeks of intensive training in French, covering various aspects of the restaurant, hotels, tour operators etc.  They will also be required to engage in group presentations and undertake various projects.  Participants will visit hotels in Guadeloupe to experience and understand the way the french operate and learn the different cultures. Upon completion of the training they will receive a “certificat de participation au stage”. ISHC and BHN Announce the 2014  Rising Star Award Caribbean The International Society of Hospitality Consultants (ISHC) and Burba Hotel Network (BHN) presented Sanovnik Destang with the 2014 Rising Star Award Caribbean at the Caribbean Hotel & Resort Investment Summit (CHRIS). By using targeted marketing strategies, product enhancement and job sustaining cost-cutting techniques, Destang was able to substantially impact the company’s performance. Destang is a Director for the St. Lucia Hotel and Tourism Association and the Caribbean Hotel and Tourism Association…Full Details Mr Destang went on to extend his appreciation for the Award: “I am truly honoured and humbled by this recognition and thank the panel of judges most graciously for being convinced that I deserve it. I am fortunate enough to work with several other “Rising Stars” at Bay Gardens Resorts in St. Lucia and I honestly feel that while my name is on this award, I am really accepting it on behalf of my extended family at Bay Gardens.    The fact that we won several awards from Tripadvisor and Weddingwire, were named one of the top 100 hotels in the World by Expedia and Fodors and most recently Business of the Year by the St. Lucia Chamber of Commerce during my tenure allows me to play the role of a politician I suppose and take full credit for it: it was all me! But of course I know better and know that all the fresh ideas and new marketing, HR and operational strategies, would have failed without having a team to implement it….Full Speech“ Enjoy Main Stage Jazz At  Heineken Beer Garden! This year the Heineken Beer Garden will be one with a difference. So says Heineken brand manager Gaius Harry. The Heineken beer garden, which is now a staple at Pigeon Island during the main-stage events, will be transformed into an ultra-all inclusive oasis of excitement. For EC$350 on each day persons can enjoy the Saint Lucia Jazz & Arts Festival main-stage events in the luxury and comfort of the Heineken Beer Garden. This package (and tickets are limited) includes a welcome gift-pack, tickets to Pigeon Island, food and drinks (WLBL products), with waiter service.  The beer garden will also feature exclusive entertainment during set change-overs as well as the beautiful Heineken ladies. The main stage event on Saturday May 10th will feature P-Square, Elvis Crespo, Kem, the Saint Lucia Jazz Expose and the island’s first Culinary Ambassador Nina Compton-Miller who will do a chef demonstration exercise.  The Sunday May 11th event will be headlined by Maxwell and will also feature the Commodores, Tessane Chin, Monty Alexander and Blue Mango. We need to continue to build national commitment to tourism as one of the key pillars of our economy – Bonita Morgan On behalf of the Caribbean Tourism Organization I want to commend the Caribbean Examinations Council for the launch of the 5 new subjects at the CAPE level, which addresses specific needs in our societies or areas where we want to develop knowledge and skills, including in the area of Tourism and I want to  thank CXC for inviting the CTO to say a few words at this launch. We at the CTO are really one of the major advocate behind the Tourism subject being launched here today having had discussions with Ministers of Education, Ministers of Tourism, Chief Education Officers, the Caribbean Examinations Council etc. over many, many years to try to convince them of the need to introduce tourism as a subject within our school system.  Some countries in the region have gone this route already without waiting for the education directorate to sanction anything.  The Commonwealth of the Bahamas has developed and uses tourism education materials for all levels of its school system, the Cayman Islands have developed tourism education materials which they actively use, Jamaica, at the primary school level invested heavily in integrating or infusing tourism into other subject areas and developing specific curricula for the same.  You have just heard Minister Jespere, Minister of Education for St. Martin and St. Barth, speaking of their success in being able to convince the French government in France of the need to introduce tourism education in their school system.  CTO went the route of developing specific tourism education materials for primary and secondary schools and some countries are using the materials to buttress their own tourism education and awareness programmes. 1.  Building Career Awareness in Tourism 2.  Influencing Public Attitudes and Awareness to Tourism and Tourists 3.  National Commitment to Tourism So, the teaching of tourism in our schools at an early age as possible is positive for tourism, positive for our countries and positive for our region in promoting career awareness in tourism, influencing public attitudes and awareness towards tourism and tourists and continuing to build national commitment for the sector.