BCC’s Hospitality Institute to be renamed

The Barbados Community College Hospitality Institute (BCCHI) will be renamed ‘the Jean and Norma Holder Hospitality Institute and Hotel PomMarine’, after the husband and wife team, who worked extensively in the fields of culture, education, hospitality and tourism. 

The renaming ceremony will be held on Wednesday, June 23, at the Institute, Marine Gardens, Hastings, Christ Church. 

The late Norma Holder, who passed away in 2016, was a former Principal of the BCC. She was instrumental in the development of the Hospitality Institute, following the college’s inheritance of the Barbados Hotel School. 

The educator began her tenure at the Barbados Community College in 1969, as an Assistant Tutor. In 1988, she was appointed Principal, until her retirement in 2004. 

Her husband, Dr. Jean Holder, was Secretary-General of the Caribbean Tourism Organization, before his retirement in 2003. He then served as the Chairman of LIAT, until his retirement in 2016.  

The BCCHI, located on the site of the former Marine Hotel in Balmoral Gap, Hastings, Christ Church, was officially opened on February 8, 1997. It is a purpose-built facility comprising classrooms, laboratories, and a fully functioning 20-room hotel – Hotel PomMarine. 

Over the past 25 years, more than 7,900 students have graduated from the Hospitality Institute and have gone on to pursue careers in the hospitality and tourism sectors locally, regionally and internationally. 

Hotel PomMarine functions as a training facility for students, with a business component that generates income through the hotel, conference and meeting centre and two restaurants – Golden Apple and Muscovado. (NP/BGIS/BCC)