Bahamas Hotel Tourism Association
The Unified Voice of Bahamian Tourism
The Bahamas fielded its youngest professional level team ever to compete in international competition, and returned home with a silver medal for their overall performance with the judges commending them on their high level of achievements as first-time competitors at the Caribbean Hotel & Tourism Association’s (CHTA) “Taste of the Caribbean” culinary competition hosted at the Hyatt Regency in Miami.
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Students from Central Andros High School’s hospitality program recently visited Nassau to observe firsthand the operations of Atlantis and the Sheraton and assist in preparing them to achieve certification under the American Hotel & Lodging Education Institute’s START program.
Eight students and three instructors spent two days with supervisors and managers in the hotel’s various divisions, including the rooms and food and beverage operations, housekeeping and guest services, and engineering while they were given ‘back of the house’ tours to better understand the inner workings of a resort.
Food and beverage industry professionals from throughout The Bahamas will be given a rare opportunity to learn from leading industry experts during a series of training sessions scheduled between June 7th and 9th at the Culinary and Hospitality Management Institute.
The line-up of workshop presenters includes Chef John Ashton whose work has been featured around the world and who has appeared with celebrities and on shows including the Today Show, the Tonight Show with Jay Leno, with Martha Stewart and others.
He’ll be joined by noted Master Butcher Ralph Avila, award-winning bartender Raakesh Madoo, Chef Augusto Schreiner from the Art of Cooking School and a host of other industry notables.
Restaurant and Hotel Managers, F&B Directors and Buyers, Chefs, Sous Chefs, Wine Stewards and F&B Interests
Don’t Miss Out on a Power-packed Program
The Slate is Set…
Leading Regional and International Industry Professionals Will Present…
“2011 Food, Flavor & Beverage Trends:
Growing Revenue and Increasing Customer Traffic”
The Downtown Nassau Partnership Board of Directors congratulates Vaughn Roberts on his recent decision to assume a senior management position with the Baha Mar project. The Board has expressed appreciation for his staff leadership during the past two years.
Roberts was hired by the DNP to fulfill its two-year public/private sector mandate for developing improvement plans for the town’s revitalization and recommending a management structure to support and sustain the ongoing revitalization efforts.
With much of this foundational work completed, he will continue to play an active role in the work of the DNP where he will serve as a volunteer helping to guide the implementation of key aspects of the revitalization. Very shortly the DNP will announce the appointment of a new manager to guide the organization’s day-to-day operations.
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Group travel is seeing a global rebound, with advanced bookings to The Bahamas now climbing to pre-recession levels, according to the Bahamas Hotel Association (BHA).
Group travel accounts for a little more than a quarter of the stopover business in The Bahamas, according to BHA president Stuart Bowe. It suffered during the recession, but Bowe told Guardian Business yesterday that advanced bookings for the balance of the year and into the next are heading in the right direction.
“Advanced bookings for groups are up considerably and now approaching pre-recession levels. Group business, predominately comprised of business-related groups, represents just over 25 percent of our business,” Bowe said. “Advanced bookings thru 2012 are promising.”
The group travel business impacts on a hotel’s operations in a meaningful way that goes beyond the percentage of occupancy it accounts for. In a November Guardian Business report, George Markantonis, president and managing director of Kerzner International Bahamas, explained the importance of these travellers to a resort’s operations.
Tourism Minister Vincent Vanderpool-Wallace is getting support for the idea of one regional airspace in a major way, with Caribbean Hotel and Tourism Association (CHTA) President Josef Forstmayr arguing it needs to be a priority for all CARICOM countries.
It just would make flying to and around the region more affordable for all, he said.
“Once you have approval to land in one CARICOM?land, that is of the highest standard, we should be able to get the same [approval] very simple, very straightforward in another,” Forstmayr told journalists during the recent 15th annual Caribbean Hotel and Tourism Investment Conference (CHTIC), held in Montego Bay, Jamaica. “So the processes get a little simpler.
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The primary objective of the BHA is to do everything possible to promote, increase and regulate tourism. |
