CHA ON FULL ALERT. - CHA members, all of us in the Caribbean Hotel Association remain watchful during this time of uncertainty, where so much is at stake for our industry. Rest assured that now more than ever we are at your service. Don’t hesitate to contact any of us at CHA. In our CHA website, www.caribbeanhotels.org, we have updated the Tourists and Travel Agent pages with airline and hotel change/cancellation policies and other important information. In addition, our Conflict & Preparedness contingency page, in the members-only section, is regularly updated; most recently, a link to the following article was posted: "PricewaterhouseCoopers Analysis of Impact of Iraq War on Lodging Industry," among others. 

ADVOCACY CORNER - Berthia Parle, 1st Vice President and Chairman of CHA's Advocacy Committee, represented CHA at a 5-day Working session on GATS and its impact on the services sector - Tourism, in particular. Mrs. Parle presented a paper articulating some of the issues and concerns of the Tourism Industry in order to educate and sensitize all participants including, CAIC - Caribbean Association of Industry & Commerce, organizers of the Event, and to ensure that the private sector's position is heard, understood and included in document to be submitted to WTO for consideration. Presentation available at www.caribbeanhotels.org. Mrs. Parle urged all tourism entities, hotels in particular, and all other tourism service providers to acquaint themselves with the proposed Agreement, benefits, opportunity, and, of course, the issues that are seen as barriers to free trade, which will eventually see some companies folding due to the liberalized and anti-competitive environment come 2005, especially as it relates to small island states with different needs and limited substantial resources...

JOHN BELL UPDATE
A number of CHA members have contacted the CHA offices to request the contact information of John Bell. Please note that you may reach John at email address johnbell@trinidad.net / telephone & fax 868-675-4239.

Source: CHAdvance March 15th – April 1st 2003

Trinidad Hotels, Restaurants and Tourism Association,

P.O. Box 243,  Port of Spain, Trinidad.,
Tel:  (868) 634-1174/5 fax: (868) 634-1176 ,
e-mail: info@tnthotels.com
Website:  www.tnthotels.com