Dear Weekender,
Last week, the 7th annual CARIBAVIA Summit and Retreat took place on St. Barth. A number of professionals came from St. Maarten by air or ferry to join this communication platform on “airlift”, which is a common denominator for interests of stakeholders of aviation and tourism industries. The conference gathered international and regional participants to address shared challenges and explore cooperative opportunities.
Three female professionals from Trinidad, Canada and the USA made some of the most applauded presentations on future aviation, tourism and investment development potential.
A brilliant presentation by a Canadian journalist had the character of a charming lecture in tourism promotion. It showed the importance of knowing the culture of a tourist source market, its various demographic segments and their habits and expectations. Conclusion of the presentation could be how much money is wasted on tourism promotion by randomly spending and not properly studying and targeting the desired tourist segments.
An airline representative from Argentina talked about the potential of South American markets. She pointed out that while we were sitting in a temperature of about 30 degrees, Buenos Aires had a chilly temperature of two degrees. But she also explained in her presentation that one needs to understand the culture and expectations in her country to attract the tourist segments. In its large network of international destinations, the airline currently flies north only to Punta Cana – Dominican Republic, Cancun – Mexico, and Miami.
Antigua and Barbuda’s Minister of Tourism, Aviation and Investment was unanimously praised for genuine engagement. It was a master class in humble purpose-driven leadership. He never missed one single session. The Minister wrote notes during the presentations, took photographs with his cell phone of the graphics shown on the screen. He talked with participating professionals and listened to them when they told him about their experiences and knowledge about a variety of vital matters. He was obviously serious about exploring new things that could be applied to aviation, tourism and other business activities at home on Antigua and Barbuda.
St. Maarten’s Minister of Education, Culture, Youth and Sport (ECYS), Melissa Gumbs, came simply by ferry to St. Barth to take part in a key panel discussion. One of the most pressing challenges was the lack of exposure and access to aviation careers for young people.
The panel discussion was well received, with positive feedback from the professionals in the audience. Listening to suggestions and experiences with education, the session had the character of a fact-finding mission. Pros from abroad offered their support and assistance. Minister Gumbs stressed that St. Maarten, as a regional hub, must prepare its workforce to meet future demand in critical aviation functions.
An Italian manufacturer had on display, at St. Barth’s airport, one of its aircraft that is especially suitable for landing on short runways in this region.
How can an airplane be sold without actually selling? It was the Italian charisma and elegance of their representative, a test pilot who has flown the aircraft and has experience in its details could immediately answer questions and present multiple advantages of the aircraft.
During an evening social session at the airport, attendees were invited to admire all the features of the aircraft. The manufacturer announced at the conference that a St. Barth based airline was assigned to be the service centre in the Caribbean for its aircraft.
During the conference, a cooperation agreement was signed between the governments of St. Barth and Nevis. It goes to show that CARIBAVIA is truly a meeting for networking, exploring solutions as well as opportunities, and resulting in decisions to come to agreements. After the conference, attendees commented that the quality of the presentations – both in content and delivery – was truly outstanding.
The conference week ended with a “Girls in Aviation Day” organized by the Carib Skies Chapter of Women In Aviation International, which was recently founded by MP Ludmilla De Weever. We’ll see where CARIBAVIA 2026 will be hosted, but the Minister of Tourism and Aviation of Antigua & Barbuda has already expressed a serious interest and commented that there should be more conferences of this format.
Kind regards,
Cdr. Bud Slabbaert, CARIBAVIA Conference Chairman
