Page 35 - ATA JAN 28,2016
P. 35
A16
LOCALThursday 28 January 2016
Today at 11am:
CHTA Hosting Webinar on Zika and Mitigating its Impact
ORANJESTAD - Further to TER FOR THE WEBINAR, trol and public education. the Caribbean are work- dents and visitors.
our communications to VISIT: https://attendee. We are also reaching out ing diligently to mitigate The CTO and CHTA are in
CHTA members last week gotowebinar.com/regis- to CARICOM and the OECS the effects of the Zika virus. communication with their
regarding the Zika virus, ter/3662556067674825985 to be part of a coordinat- Zika, also known as ZIKV, is respective stakeholders
we urge all national hotel The virus is receiving con- ed regional effort. Gov- spread primarily by the Ae- and are observing na-
and tourism associations siderable media attention ernments, as well as hotels des aegypti mosquito. tional, regional and inter-
and members in the re- and CHTA has had reports and other businesses, will The public-sector-led Ca- national health protocols
gion to diligently work to of some cancellations at- need to allocate time and ribbean Tourism Organiza- in dealing with mosquito-
mitigate the problem. An tributed directly to fear of resources towards mitiga- tion (CTO) and its private borne viral diseases which
aggressive vector control the virus. While precau- tion. sector counterpart, the can be found in tropical
program by hotels and tions and due diligence are The US Center for Disease Caribbean Hotel and Tour- countries.
Governments is essential absolutely essential when Control has issued a Level ism Association (CHTA) are With more than 700 islands
as is public awareness and dealing with a matter such Two Alert (practice en- in close contact with the in 30 territories in the Ca-
training directed towards as this, we advise mem- hanced precautions) for Caribbean Public Health ribbean, conditions will
our employees, businesses bers to delicately address travelers to the Caribbean Agency (CARPHA) to mon- vary from one nation to
and Governments. the matter with the media and specifies those coun- itor and research the Zika another. CTO and CHTA
CHTA and CTO are work- should it come up. tries which have confirmed cases that have now sur- will continue to monitor all
ing collaboratively with the NHTAs are asked to moni- cases to date. Five Carib- faced in some Caribbean developments related to
Caribbean Public Health tor the impact of the virus bean countries are listed destinations, and to com- mosquito-borne viral dis-
Agency (CARPHA) and this and keep track of cancel- on the site and several municate prevention and eases and to support ap-
week will begin to roll out lations. more are expected to be control measures to resi- propriate communication,
additional initiatives to sup- Public-Private sector col- added this week. The alert education and prevention
port your on-the-ground ef- laboration is essential in and other preventive and initiatives. Please visit www.
forts. successfully addressing this. helpful information for ho- caribbeanhotelandtour-
We are scheduling a We- CHTA, CTO and CARPHA tels and travelers can be ism.com to download the
binar for today, Thursday, are working together, and found at: http://www.cdc. two attachments which
January 28th, at 11 AM, we urge all NHTAs and in- gov/zika/ outline measures that both
titled “The Facts About dustry stakeholders to col- STATEMENT BY CTO AND visitors and hotels can take
Zika and How to Mitigate laborate at the local level, CHTA ON THE ZIKA VIRUS: to help mitigate the mos-
Its Impact”. TO REGIS- particularly on vector con- “Public health authorities in quito problem.”q
