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A14 LOCAL
Friday 8 March 2019

Nuno Sales, Director Market Management for Expedia Group Lodging Partner Services:
“The travel industry in the Caribbean needs to understand how to

appeal to their customer’s personal needs”

Continued from Page 14 and positive disruptors. understand how to appeal to their dos following their steps. St. John,
Sales: “Economy in the region is customer’s personal needs. Tech- in the U.S. Virgin Islands also offers
Gen Z predicted to be volatile in 2019, nology advancements will lead a green lodging experience in
Based on other recent Expedia yet the global travel landscape the path in the travel space, and campgrounds that do a lot to mini-
Group™ Media Solutions research continued to grow in 2018 and is we want to support the Caribbean mize tourism impact in the local
study, Gen Z travelers (those born showing no signs of slowing down. region to improve guest experi- natural environments. The island of
between 1996 and 2010) are al- Air, rail and car bookings recorded ence through innovation. Bonaire has also made a commit-
ready taking almost as many trips increases of above three percent, ment to green living not only by of-
as millennials and are more drawn according to Phocuswright. As for Eco-Friendly Caribbean fering eco-friendly lodging but by
to experiences by the beach than what Expedia Group’s expects to “We are seeing that a good powering much of the island with
Millennials (M). achieve during this year, we hope amount of urban areas in the Ca- wind energy and using bio-diesel.
Activities and experiences are also to bring more value to our activities ribbean destinations are commit-
getting to the heart of travel deci- vendors that provide more than 35K ting to improve the quality of ser- “As Expedia Group, we had also
sions for both Gen Z and Millennial experiences, deliver relevant mar- vices and amenities that they offer assumed our responsibility as a
travelers, as shown on the following ket insights, and strategic counsel to international travelers but there Global Travel Company and we
chart: to all of our industry partners. We is also true that there is an uprising support several projects across the
want to continue to be the world’s demand of green friendly options, Caribbean, along with organiza-
What are the trends in the region travel platform by orchestrating not only for eco-friendly destina- tions such as the Clinton Founda-
and what do you expect for this the movement of people and the tions but also eco-friendly proper- tion. In Puerto Rico, we are sup-
year 2019? delivery of travel experiences on ties and amenities”, says Sales. For porting an environmental initiative
According to the director expe- both a local and a global basis.” instance, Dominica has a good on the island of Culebra, one of
riences have taken priority over Expedia Group believes that just amount of properties that had the most-visited marine ecosystem
possessions, as a path to happiness as today’s travelers have already been built on sustainable guide- in the Puerto Rican archipelago, to
and fulfillment and personalization been trained to research prod- lines and are working on reduc- bring back sustainable tourism. The
has become the “new thing” to ucts and prices, read reviews and ing wastewater, food waste, and program helps fund an in-depth
drive traveler satisfaction. Machine make educated and discerning electricity usage. They are also the evaluation of the area; and the
Learning and Artificial Intelligence purchase decisions, the travel in- first island state to ban single-use creation of a management plan to
have become two very powerful dustry in the Caribbean needs to plastic, with Jamaica and Barba- protect it and maintain it.”q

Better the Balance, Better the World

ORANJESTAD — Today is Interna- ‘culture’ appears to be common
tional Women’s Day (IWD), a day for many Latin American countries
that is celebrated around the world including the Caribbean.
on the 8th of March and is a day to
reflect on how far we have come Inequality at Work
and how far we still have to go to ECLAC released its report Social
truly achieve gender equality. This Panorama 2018 stating that on
year’s theme is ‘Better the Balance, average, around 40% of the em-
Better the World.’ ployed population of Latin Amer-
Empowerment of woman is impor- ica earns wages below the mini-
tant and has a long way to go. With mum established per country. That
movements like #MeToo we can proportion is much higher among
see women standing up against women (48.7%) and young people
sexual harassment and receiving aged 15-24 (55.9%). The figure rises
the acknowledgement for their to 60.3% among young women.
rights. Unfortunately there are still Universal policies must be imple-
many countries where sexual ha- mented that respond to these
rassment is ‘part of culture’ like in differences in order to close the women in paid work is in contrast work.” concluded the document.
India where rape is the fourth most gaps in access that affect differ- to their high participation in non- The UN Women’s global theme
common crime against women in ent groups of the population, and paid work within the home: in Latin for IWD 2019 is ‘Think equal, build
India. Brazil, where female sup- that also take into account both America, 77% of non-paid work is smart, innovate for change’, link-
porters from both teams recently the old and new risk scenarios that done by women, according to ing with the UN Commission on the
protested against sexual harass- will impact society as a whole, says data from surveys on use of time. Status of Women’s focus on social
ment during a football game. A ECLAC. In 2017, participation by “Without adequate public poli- protection, public services and sus-
woman’s place is wherever she women in the labor market contin- cies to address key issues, such as tainable infrastructure.
wants, including a stadium. Male ued to be less compared to men, the promotion of women’s training Aruba Today unfortunately was
fans responded by harassing the at 50.2% and 74.4% respectively, and employment in science, tech- not able to find much focus upon
women. Stadiums aren’t the only while unemployment in women for nology, engineering and math- this theme in Aruba on social me-
place in Brazil where women’s that year was higher (10.4%) than ematics (STEM), to avoid job inse- dia and printed media. However
rights are trampled on. On aver- for men (7.6%). More than half of curity and to promote co-responsi- it seems that Sketch Advertising to-
age, women earn 23 % less than working women (51.8%) are em- bility in care systems, women could gether with Rockhouse Aruba will
men. Harsh abortion restrictions ployed in low-productivity sectors, not only lose out on the benefits celebrate the social, economic,
deny women of their reproductive and of those, 82.2% are not affiliat- of future jobs, but also run the risk cultural and political achieve-
freedom. Women also face wide- ed with or drawing from a pension of perpetuating existing gaps and ments of women today. More infor-
spread domestic violence. This system. The low participation by the existing shortfalls of decent mation on their Facebook. q