tudents of The College of The Bahamas along with Culinary and Hospitality Management Institute (CHMI) coordinator and Associate Professor Ms. Ruth Gardiner at Caribbean Tourism Organization Students Colloquium in New York City, U.S.A. From left: Travis Robinson, Derencia Rolle-Davis, Ruth Gardiner, Leslie St. Albord II and Toni Bethell.

Nassau, Bahamas - Imagine a pilgrimage through rocky trails and dense brush for a snapshot of a slave hut; or the chance to sit quietly on a 100 year-old wooden church pew and feel God’s presence; or to stand in a government edifice in which laws enacted altered the course of history for a small island state.

These adventures, conceived in the minds of four talented College of The Bahamas Culinary and Hospitality Management Institute students gave birth to a heritage tourism business concept which placed third in The Caribbean Tourism Organization (CTO) Caribbean Students Colloquium.

The colloquium, held in June during New York City’s Caribbean Week, gathered the brightest and best students from The Bahamas, Turks and Caicos, Jamaica and the United States. The most innovative and prize winning business plans focused on intra-regional and domestic tourism, which incorporated strategies currently employed by Caribbean destinations.

The College of The Bahamas team, sponsored by the Ministry of Tourism, consisted of Hospitality and Tourism Management majors Travis Robinson, Toni Bethell and Derencia Rolle-Davis and Business and Economics major Leslie St. Albord II.

The teams had several Caribbean specific sustainable business concepts to choose from including adventure, culinary, sports or heritage tourism. There was also the option to identify and make a case for new practical initiatives the Caribbean Tourism Organization could implement to achieve its vision.

Selecting the heritage tourism business concept, the COB team, in a boardroom style setting presented Trail Blazers Tours and Excursions Ltd., which would specialise in a tour package with three unique trails.

“We tried to be as creative as possible in our presentation of it. So, we came from an aspect of a boardroom. Myself, I happen to be the President for the company, and we had the Tours Coordinator [Toni Bethel], we had our Vice President of Finance [Leslie St. Albord II] and then we had our Vice President of Marketing [Derencia Rolle-Davis],” said Travis Robinson, a group member.

The tour company would offer three trails focused on politics, religion and slavery spanning three different countries The Bahamas, Cuba and Haiti.

“They would have come to the Caribbean and instead of just getting one country, what one country has to offer they would get a combination of three countries and three countries of different, although they are similar in nature, but they have the different histories specifically through their different languages,” says Ruth Gardiner, Associate Professor in the Culinary and Hospitality Management Institute (CHMI) who served as coordinator of The Bahamian team.

In order to reach a broader audience the team proposed the creation of a Trail Blazers application or app for smart phones. The app would allow trail adventurers to connect to a virtual tour guide which would provide relevant information about the designated trail, an artifact, monument or building.

“You don’t necessarily need a tour guide to tell you that this is whatever it is you are looking at, you could just put the app there without anybody being around and it tells you the complete history,” said Gardiner.

Charged with the mandate to ensure environmentally friendly tour packages, according to the team every site on the trail would have recycling bins. The team also proposed that recycled materials generated would benefit the island in some way.

Robinson appreciates the experience and exposure from participating in the international Students Colloquium.

“It in deed was a tremendous experience for me to be able to share a stage with other like –minded individuals like myself, not only in The Bahamas but across the entire Caribbean,” he said.

Gardiner is grateful for the exposure the forum gave The College of The Bahamas students.

“We are in a global village more or less and the more we can actually expose our students to the realities of what is out there that’s beyond just this space called The Bahamas. They need to be [informed] with like-minded people to experience how other students are going through their academic situation,” said Gardiner.