New BHTA boss to focus on training and marketing

Newly appointed Chief Executive Officer of the Barbados Hotel and Tourism Association (BHTA) Ryan Forde is promising training opportunities for members and potential industry workers will be ramped up.
He also intends to have the BHTA play a greater role in marketing the island.
Forde, who assumed the position just under a month ago, gave this indication on Wednesday in his first quarterly address to members at the Accra Beach Resort, as he shed light on some of his plans for the association.
“My plan is to enjoy the journey of this next important decade. . . . I can say this is the decade of change. Our competitors, the bulk of them, were never as developed as Barbados was in the 1990s and the early 2000s. However, now we are in the decade of change.
“We must change how we think, and we must work together on how we redevelop our strategies, our properties and attractions and services as we change for a better Barbados,” he declared.
Indicating that one of his areas of focus would be marketing the destination, the tourism executive said the BHTA has been working closely with the Barbados Tourism Marketing Inc. (BTMI) and “international production companies who wish to promote Barbados through digital platforms”.
“Just last week, we had a lovely meeting with one company. I can’t necessarily go into details as yet, for obvious reasons. However, the plan is how do we market Barbados – and not just a one-off but how do we go forward and have the company keep coming back . . . and having these themes and concepts that promote brand Barbados. These discussions are being had,” Forde disclosed.
He said while tourism officials continued to do “a great job” when it came to partnerships with airline companies, the BHTA would seek to have greater input in this area.
“We need to sit side-by-side and explain to them what we are doing in Barbados over these next 12 months, the next 16 months. We need to go there and show them and not just wait for a trade show. We need to go into their offices here,” he said.
In relation to training, Forde said the BHTA would continue its thrust to ensure the island’s learning institutions were offering studies in areas demanded by the industry.
“One of the more important aspects of the industry is the need for continuous training and it is best to start when you are young. As such, I have met with three different stakeholders – the secondary schools, BCC [Barbados Community College] and also with UWI [University of the West Indies],” he said.
“With regards to how we reshape the curriculum, it is . . . in terms of progression of knowledge and experience while focusing on service training and new important niches to the industry such as revenue management, digital marketing and coding,” he said.
“All three of those are not the traditional areas that you think of when you hear tourism, so these are areas that the younger populace here in Barbados can get into and grow into. . . . We need to do a lot more cross-training across the departments, across the industry, across even to other industries,” he added.
Further outlining his plans, Forde said the BHTA was prepared to work more closely with stakeholders to improve the tourism experience for visitors and enhance growth for members, residents and the economy.
He said in the coming weeks, he would be visiting member properties to hear their concerns, discuss development plans for the tourism product and look for new ways for them to reap greater benefits.
Forde is also expected to meet with the Government regarding private-public partnership rollout of projects in the industry.
“We are also going to be looking at how do we work with the Barbados Workers’ Union on new programmes to update our members on training and opportunities that are available to them,” he said, noting that it was necessary to take the discussions beyond uniforms and salaries.
It is also Forde’s intention to improve security and environmental conditions on the island’s south coast. He explained that the BHTA would seek to do this through collaboration with industry stakeholders, residents and businesses.
(MM)