Caribbean not reaching full potential in health and wellness tourism

The Caribbean is not reaching its full potential when it comes to health and wellness tourism.

This is the belief of Dr. Damien Cohall, Chief Consultant of the University of the West Indies (UWI) Health and Wellness Standards Consultancy Team, who spoke at the Caribbean Spa and Wellness Launch recently at the Raddison Aquatica Resort.

Dr. Damien Cohall, Chief Consultant of the University of the
West Indies (UWI) Health and Wellness Standards Consultancy
Team, speaking at the Caribbean Spa and Wellness Launch recently
at the Radisson Aquatica Resort.

He stated that this is a multi-billion dollar industry, and yet, unlike other countries across the globe that have capitalised in this sector, the region has failed to see these profits.

“Several studies have shown that the health and wellness sector is one of the fastest growing segments in the tourism industry. A commonwealth secretariat study has estimated the health and wellness sector to be a US$40 billion market with an annual growth rate of 30 per cent. The efforts to build this segment of the Caribbean’s tourism product have not yet maximised the region’s full potential.

Consequentially, the growth of health and wellness tourism in the Caribbean has not kept pace with the industry’s growth in the European and North American markets.”

He stated that in order for the region to reap the same benefits as our European and North American counterparts, we need to develop a clear strategy that caters to international standards of health and safety and quality management systems.

In this regard, the University put together a team of experts whose goals were to develop appropriate standards for this industry, he said.

“The UWI established a team of university academics and freelance consultants, which were tasked with conducting a situation analysis of the regional quality assurance framework, observing international best practices and making recommendations of a standard and its implementation strategies for the regional health and wellness sector,” Dr. Cohall continued.

This consultancy which  completed its findings and delivered it to the contractor in May, 2013, is a comprehensive document which highlights areas that persons involved in this industry would need to focus on, such as “quality management systems, health and safety criteria for the health and wellness entities, products and the personnel working within the sector”.

Certification

One of the areas that was highlighted was certification. “As anticipated, certification is one of the areas emphasised in the standard for both the physical entity and for persons plying their trade in the sector. The proposed criteria for personnel certification is well entrained within the established national and regional industry-based competency standards for vocational training, currently being harmonised by the Caribbean Association of National Training Agencies.

“Other criteria are essential components of established national, regional and international health and safety legislation and guidelines, benchmarked to standardise the sector to establish its competitive edge in service and product provision,” he added. (PJT)