BASSETERRE, St. Kitts – MANAGEMENT of the St. Kitts Marriott Hotel is currently hosting a conference geared towards the security of the Federation in regards to its dependence on tourism.
The two-day event, dubbed ‘Safety, Security and the Tourism Industry’, has attracted representatives of the private, public and tourism sectors learning about the different safety and security measures that may be taken to help combat the issues of drugs, violence and crime that is impacting the tourism industry.
Presenters at the conference include world renowned author and speaker specialising in the Impact of Crime and Terrorism on the Tourism Industry, Dr. Peter Tarlow; Organisational Development and Event Risk Management expert, Dr. Richard Feenstra; Senior Executive Chef at the Stanford University and a registered Food Safety Instructor, Gary Arthur; Senior Security expert, author, university instructor and retired FBI Special Agent, David Shepherd; and Regional Security Director for Marriott International and former FBI Special Agent, Jay Galindo.
The presenters will be speaking on a range of topics such as the State of Tourism Security; Tourism’s Survival in Turbulent Times; Technology Products; the Pros and Cons of Surveillance Cameras; Security in the Hotel Industry; Safety and Security; Food Hygiene and Safety; Fire Safety and Tourism; the Ins and Outs of Tourism Risk and Crisis Planning; and Understanding the Interrelationship between Tourism, Crime, Piracy, and Terrorism.
General Manager of the St. Kitts Marriott Hotel Flor Van der Vaart said the conference was organised to help find ways to lessen the impact of violence, drugs and crime on the Tourism Industry.
“It is important to develop a mindset of the importance of safety and security because it drives tourism. If it is done right, it can actually enhance tourism. We know locally what is going on. The more help we can provide and the more knowledge we can bring to help us all...the better. This has come about because it is something that we organised in Aruba, and it worked well. The goal is to have it reoccur every other year.
“Everybody needs to understand the importance of tourism to the Federation, and the importance of safety and security and the need to have some actions taken to elevate it from where we are sliding towards now to where we should be.
“We have enough islands around us to see how non-safe scenarios have negatively impacted tourism. We see how the issues there have rippled through the growth of their tourism, and we would like to try our utmost to divert or mitigate the effects on tourism because it is on issue here that we want to manage well,” he said.
Dr. Tarlow is of the view that the difference between St. Kitts and Nevis and other destinations is that the Federation is trying to deal with the issues they are facing.
He said, “One of the positive things about St. Kitts and Nevis is that persons are facing the issues and are beginning to deal with them. And the way a problem is solved is by first recognising it, instead of putting it under the table and having it explode. Some other islands have ignored the problem. St. Kitts and Nevis have set a goal and is working hard to achieve that goal.”
“There is no one magic formula to eradicate crime. You cannot just say ‘here, take this medicine and all will be well’. It calls for a consistency of interaction between the private and the public sectors so that both are working towards the same goal. The persons in attendance here are going to have two days worth of solutions that we have to offer.”
