SHTA – 13 years 1st VP and President CHTA

Politician

Introduction Emil Lee Princess Heights Hotel / Atlas Construction Company.

In race for 15 Parliamentary seats, 3rd on my party. 12th out of 89 candidates. Not bad for a Chinese American,

that grew up in a Jewish neighborhood, on an island half French and half Dutch, married to a German woman raised in Venezuela.

Old CHTA –Typical Top down Hierarchy

NHTA

MEMBER

CHTA

NHTA

MEMBER MEMBER

Dandelion Hub and Spoke Model

CHTA

NHTA MEMBER

NHTA MEMBER

NHTA MEMBER

NHTA

MEMBER

• Sharing Best and Worst Practices – Energy and Water Efficiency and Conservation – Operational best practices.

• housekeeping. Landscaping

– Marketing Techniques. • Channel and yield management, website development,

social media

– Data Mining - Bahamas – Environmental protection. Development policy

Dandelion Hub and Spoke Much can be achieved thru Cross pollinating

New CHTA – Disrupting Tourism CHTA must boldly offer thought leadership and search for the LCD Member Desires - Belief that all members are interested in 3 things, which haven’t changed. But how we deliver on those needs have changed. -Make More Money (legal and socially responsible manner) -Save Money by increasing efficiency and productivity -Network and have fun. CHIEF - Caribbean Hospitality Industry Exchange Forum CHIEF will draw on some of the most successful elements of CHIC and the small hotels retreat but it will also be adding educational seminars where our allied members will be teaching our hotels practical money saving tips and revenue generating strategies such as Marketplace – Marketplace is in the process of evolving into an event focused on increasing revenue. So in addition to the traditional conference, we will be adding seminars aimed at helping hotels to supplement revenues by increasing direct bookings and yield management strategies. Papers : Cuba, Sargassum sea weed, airbnb, expedia/orbitz merger.

Regional issues - Affordable and Robust Airlift to our destinations – APD - Maintaining Authenticity, cultural heritage. - Environmental Management/Climate Change - Energy Management

Public Debt - Fiscal Discipline Data Bankrupt: UNDERSTANDING TOURISM - Walmart - You cannot manage what you don’t measure - Benchmarking Tourism Performance- measuring effectiveness of tourism

marketing, - Benchmarking Tourism Contributions- Tourism Satellite accounting.

Education, Employment, tax contributions

Open and transparent government. Leadership.

Naturally, Tourism should be Environmentally, socially sustainable

• Anguilla Ferry Operator assessment of Tourism – Invite people to our home – Make sure they have as memorable an experience as possible. – Leave as much of their money behind. – Encourage them to return or send their friends so they can do it

again. • Tourist destination is our HOME:

– Don’t believe in tourism for tourism sake – Focus on developing best quality of life for residents and by

default you will make your home the best place to visit – Tourism has consequences good and bad. A conscious decision

to pursue tourism must be made. Objectives outlined and agreed by stakeholders.

– Perhaps dragging everyone along is unrealistic.

Tourism must be Economically Sustainable

• Statia Government and Terminal largest employers. Very low employment but underemployment. Tourism is a great way to develop secondary part time business or employment.

• Sustainable Economic development requires maximum utilization of assets. – Taxi used one day a month. Makes no sense. – Same for tourism infrastructure. Hotels, restaurants,

homestay program.

Practical steps- Low hanging Fruit

- While everyone talks about change. Change is uncomfortable.

- Based on very limited research…but we shouldn’t be afraid to be bold.

- Recommendation: Run Statia as if it were one company. A business. This could be an amazing model for the rest of the Caribbean.

- Size can be your advantage.

Home Stay Program: you invented airbnb Statia has worked out regulatory issues

Airbnb April 2014 at a $10 billion valuation St Eustatius St, Toms River, NJ, United States

Sint Eustatiusdreef, Utrecht, Netherlands

Trip Advisor: 172 reviews for 4 lodging. 4 reviews for 2 vacation rentals

$7500 bad review. $350 for a good review.

Airport research center More government jobs

• Inbound survey. – Business or pleasure – Where staying, length of stay. – Airline time – Booking method.. OTA, travel agent, direct

• Outbound survey -- Free bar/snacks. – Experience on Statia. Detailed. Names. Places. – management of reviews. – Suggestions for destination – Develop customer training based on feedback loops.

Expedia: Old Gin House Next is St Kitts- advertising/credibility

Business Guidance

• How to develop pricing structure ? • How to work with OTA’s allotments, net

rates, extranet, stop sells etc? • Bundle activities with Hotel Sales on OTA’s

Using Size to your advantage

• Data collection -12,000 passengers. Immigration interview. Exit surveys. Average 33 per day.

• Destination Website. Commercialize not for revenue for data. Booking engine. Call center.

• Regional cooperation: Shared solutions

• Targeted marketing. Cost benefit analysis.

– Measured impact of marketing activities.

opportunities

• Statia is full of opportunities to become an amazingly effective and efficient tourism destination.

• Ability to retain very unique and authentic experience. Develop local integration plan for tourism.

• Integrated programs. Hydroponics. Farm to table.

• Run tourist department like a business. Focus on numbers, revenue, yield. All of this creates jobs.