From:TheBahamasWeekly.com
COB Students Celebrate 3rd Place Finish in Caribbean Students Colloquium
By Office of Communication, The College of The Bahamas
Jul 22, 2015 - 6:35:06 PM
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.
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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.
The
Culinary and Hospitality Management Institute continues to expose its
students to opportunities for career development and training around the
world.
Most recently, Gardiner and a team of students returned home from the National Association of Black Hotel Owners, Operators & Developers (NABHOOD) conference held at the Biscayne
Bay Marriott in Miami, Florida July 15th-19th, 2015.
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