By Nelson A. King
The Barbados-based Caribbean
Tourism Organization (CTO) on
Wednesday joins the rest of the Caribbean
in mourning the loss of Dr. Jean
Holder, the father of regional tourism
development. He was 85.
The late Dr. Holder spent more
than 30 years of his professional life
leading the development and expansion
of the sector that would become
the region’s main foreign exchange
earner and the engine of economic
growth.
“The Caribbean, and we may argue
the greater world of tourism, truly
has lost one of its pioneering sons,”
said the CTO in a statement. “Dr.
Holder’s progressive leadership during
the formative years of Caribbean
tourism distinguished him as a pillar
of the region’s tourism development.”
As a dedicated regionalist, the CTO
said Dr. Holder oversaw tourism’s
growth from infancy to its current
various stages of maturity.
“Indeed, elements of the original
Caribbean tourism ethos forged by
the organizations which he led can
be found in virtually every Caribbean
nation, virtually every community
and anywhere in the region where
the tourism seed has been sown,” the
CTO said.
“Dr. Holder sometimes joked that
when he was hired in September 1974
to head the newly-established Caribbean
Tourism Research and Development
Centre (CTRC), he was a man
‘whose only contact with tourism
was as a tourist,’” it added. “That
organization had a broad mandate
for tourism education and training,
tourism planning and research, as
well as statistics.
“What he sought to create was a
regional development agency, which
operated in the ‘field of tourism’, to
build developmental change and economic
growth,” the CTO continued.
“By the time of his retirement, one
could not speak of Caribbean tourism
without mentioning his name.”
Caribbean L 28 ife, February 4-10, 2022
By Vinette K. Pryce
Instead of the annual roar of excitement
that annually usher in the Chinese
lunar new year, some members
of the Asian community will growl the
Feb. 1 arrival of the Year of the Tiger.
“I do not intend to venture out,” Pam
Lee, a longtime resident of Manhattan’s
China Town said.
“Every year I usually eat out at one
of my favorite restaurants, follow the
dragon parades, invite friends to dim
sum brunch and give out a few red
envelopes but not this year, no.”
Lee’s tamped down attitude is driven
primarily by fear from contamination
of the Omicron variants of COVID-19
and also the recent spate of attacks
against Asians.
Andrew — (who asked anonymity)
runs a nail salon in Williamsburg. He
was born in China, raised in the Phillippines
and spent much of his adulthood
in Vancouver, Canada. This year he
said he will defer from tradition, close
the salon to patrons but will remain at
home on the first day of the holiday.
“I usually take my family to China
Town in Queens where we usually feast.,
this year, no…it’s not safe.”
Heng Lo, from Malaysia is even more
cautious. He will take some days off
from work as a patient advocate but will
not meet up with the usual crowd that
shares his tradition.
Instead he plans to reminisce the
years he lived in Mainland China by
talking on the phone, cooking and
reconnecting with loved ones in Thailand
and his homeland. Lo resides in
Manhattan, walking distance from his
workplace.
“I work from home on Tuesday anyway
and go in to the hospital four days
a week so “I will cook my favorite meals,
make phone calls and revel with nostalgic
reminders from photographs of
good times I shared in the past.”
“This new variant is even more contagious,”
he said “the Delta was bad but
the hospital is full of patients like never
before…when will this end?”
Lo said since the celebration begins
on Feb. 1 and extends 15 days he probably
will enjoy a prolonged appreciation
of this year’s promise of “new beginning.”
It’s been three consecutive years since
abnormal conditions have interfered
with the zodiac traditions practiced by
the most populous people in the world.
Although a reported 87 percent of businesses
have re-opened after shuttering
to the pandemic in 2020, tourists are
still apprehensive to return to the lower
Manhattan community where thriving,
businesses reliably prevailed.
Reportedly sales of red lanterns, red,
gift envelopes, bouquets, food items,
Tom, Pam and Everald in China Town 2019. Photo by Vinette K. Pryce
fireworks and other shoppers’ delights
are significantly down.
“I plan to keep a low profile,” Lee
added.
As a Jamaican-Chinese she said she
cheer on Olympians competing in Beijing,
China, regale Reggae Month in
Jamaica and watch “plenty of PBS-TV’s
coverage of Black History.”
According to Miraclein — Biblical
miracles, a calendar phenomenon
records that this month an there will
be an exact amount of each of the seven
days of the week.
Four Sundays, Mondays, Tuesdays,
Wednesdays. Thursdays, Fridays and
Saturdays — and it’s not even a leap
year.
Allegedly, the rarity occurs every 823
years.
Dr. Jean Holder. Barbados GIS
Year of the Tiger starts
Black History Month
CTO mourns the
passing of Dr.
Jean Holder
Pam Lee on Chinese New Year. Photo by Vinette K. Pryce