Enrique De Marchena Kaluche, from the Dominican Republic, has become President of the Caribbean Hotel Association for 2008-2010 with a platform that includes goals to raise the level of awareness and respect for the hospitality and tourism industry by collaborating with governments and the people of the Caribbean.

The new CHA President will also be focusing on human resource development of Caribbean nationals working in both hospitality and tourism, improving the marketing of the hotel industry throughout the region, dealing with the impact of airline service cutbacks, integrating tourism into the economic chain on the islands, and reinvigorating both the Board of Directors and the national hotel association executives across the Caribbean.

De Marchena took the stage and the presidency of the Caribbean Hotel Association (CHA) praising the past presidents of CHA vowing “to listen to my constituents and get the best advice possible from the past presidents based on their own experience, their knowledge of the history of this association and the tourism sector in the Caribbean.”

De Marchena is creating a Council of Past Presidents of CHA to meet twice a year “to assist me to make this association stronger, because together we can.”

His goal is to continue to set the tone, to raise the awareness level and critical role that the entire hotel and tourism industry contributes to the economy of the Caribbean and also tourism’s role as the major provider of jobs and the alleviation of poverty.

“During our first Annual Caribbean Tourism Summit here in Washington we are
therefore looking forward to having the opportunity to meet with U.S. representatives to create a better understanding of the significant role that tourism plays as the major engine of our economies, indeed in many islands it is the only engine. We hope the U.S. representatives will be sensitive to assisting us in developing our industry to ensure the economic sustainability of our region,” he said.