Members of our community are rightfully confused as to why an island with so few hotel rooms needs two hotel associations.
Our association, the St. Croix Hotel & Tourism Association, is a 30-year-old organization with over 140 members, comprised of an amalgamation of tourism related
businesses and associations, not just hotels.
Such divergent organizations and businesses as Our Town Frederiksted, the St. Croix Taxi Association, major airlines, the Christiansted Restaurant & Retail Association and most of the island car rental and dive companies hold board of director seats and/or membership, in what is a truly inclusive hotel and tourism association.
Every member of our association has a vote and voice in association policy and structure.
The St. Croix Hotel & Tourism Association, with over 80 percent of St. Croix’s hotel rooms, is also the only hotel association on the island that is recognized by the Caribbean Hotel Association (CHA). Our affiliation with CHA is of great importance to any level of success our island can achieve. Without the collective clout of CHA, we can not challenge airline price fixing, access our regional wholesale travel partners, nor participate in reasonably priced seminars and hospitality training programs sponsored by CHA.
The Caribbean as whole has suffered a downturn in visitor arrivals. We have a collective lack of product recognition. Our problems are not necessarily unique to St. Croix. We must take a global view, building bridges rather than complaining that no one knows we are here.
We already have too many organizations and associations who work hard to find the differences between us instead of finding our commonality of purpose. We may have arrived here in different boats, but we are all now passengers on the same leaky ship.
Our Association is dedicated to not only working with all businesses and organizations on St. Croix for the common good, we see a future that includes unity with our brothers and sisters in St. Thomas and St. John and ultimately our relatives on other Caribbean islands in a joint effort to market the region.
You do not see the Andros Island, or Eleuthera Hotel Association, or the Maui or Molokai Accommodations Council(s). No, they are the Bahamas and Hawaiian Islands Board(s) of Tourism.
We are entirely too small to have this fractionalized approach to promoting ourselves. We must pool our limited resources in order to have any impact, or create any interest in our islands as a destination.
In conclusion I quote John Bell, executive director of the Caribbean Hotel Association in his Aug. 10, 1999 letter to me. "I remain absolutely convinced there is a big world out there that is eating our lunch while we squabble amongst ourselves."
