Jean Holder
LIAT’s chairman is about to release his third book.
Jean Holder’s latest publication ‘Caribbean Tourism’, published by UWI Press, is a seminal look at the history and many challenges facing Caribbean tourism.
It recounts the turbulent history of tourism’s introduction to the Caribbean and how it has become the major driver of the region’s economy.
The book will be officially launched at the Barbados-based Caribbean Development Bank next week.
Holder, who was at the helm of the Caribbean Tourism Research and Development Centre and its successor Caribbean Tourism Organization for close to three decades, presents case studies from islands where Caribbean tourism first blossomed – Barbados, Bermuda, the Bahamas, Jamaica and Cuba – to demonstrate the post-emancipation complexities and the measures taken to address them.
He details the history of various regional entities and their successes and failures in developing the Caribbean tourism sector.
Holder, a director of several regional private sector companies, asserts that despite the current challenges, the tourism industry is resilient and the Caribbean’s best hope for continued development – provided the region works together and plays to its strengths.
He has previously published Errol Barrow: A Souvenir; and Don’t Burn Our Bridges: The Case for Owning Airlines.