The Caribbean Hotel Association proudly announces the region has its first certified environmental manager ? Dominican Geraldin Galva. Galva studies Hospitality Management at Pontificia Universidad Catolica Madre & Maestra (PUCMM) in Santo Domingo. He was a recipient of the Caribbean Hotel Foundation (CHF) scholarship. Galva said that the certification process had widened his knowledge of environmental issues in the hospitality industry and allowed him to learn and appreciate the environmental practices implemented throughout the Caribbean.
“After five years working in the tourism industry, I realize that everything heavily depends on the environment – and it is the key to deliver in a sustainable manner the experience that the visitor is truly looking for,” he said.
The Caribbean Hotel Association’s Caribcert program is specialized for individuals and organizations in the hospitality industry. Galva now looks to take his certification a step further with a Master’s degree in Strategic Marketing and Quality. His feet firmly planted on the ground, he has expressed his wish to help achieve the sustainability of Caribbean tourism, from a position in the industry where he could effectively apply his knowledge “as long as it is beneficial to society and the environment,” he specified.
Deirdre Shurland, director of the Caribbean Alliance for Sustainable Tourism (CAST), CHA’s environmental subsidiary adds: “We are pleased to see the coming together of environmental management training in the Caribbean and hope that many young people will follow this path.” With double the number of Green Globe 21 certified properties in the Caribbean since last year, the environmental management certification is expected to pick up speed.
For more information on the scholarship, see http://www.caribbeanhotelfoundation.org
The deadline to apply is March 15, 2005.