AFTER HOURS: Toast to hotel workers

Hotel and restaurant workers joined others in the tourism industry for a cocktail reception at Ilaro Courtlast week in honour of the annual Barbados Workers’ Union Hotel and Restaurant Workers’ Week.Acting Minister of Tourism Senator Haynesley Benn, standing in for Tourism Minister Richard Sealy, reflected on the week’s theme, Recovery Through Tourism Excellence, urging workers to show that excellence in service.He also conveyed a message from Sealy, who sent his “best wishes for a productive and fun-filled week of activities”.Benn acknowledged the workers’ “valuable contribution to ensuring the sustainability of the tourism industry in Barbados” and thanked them for theirhard work as the Council of Hoteland Restaurant Workers celebrates25 years in the tourism business.Among the guests were Membersof Parliament, Caribbean Tourism Organisation secretary general Hugh Riley, officials of the Barbados Tourism Authority and Barbados Hotel and Tourism Association, members of the executive council of the Barbados Workers’ Union, hotel and restaurant workers, BHTA chairman Ralph Taylorm and hoteliers.Benn said in the face of so much regional competition for the tourism dollar, workers should ask themselves how they could distinguish themselves and the destination in the face of such competition. He suggested the answer should lie in a higher quality of service. (GC)