Tourism – Page 2 – Go Lean…Caribbean

Tag: Tourism

What Went Wrong? ‘Be our Guest’ – The Rules of Hospitality

Posted on July 23, 2019 in Ethos, Industries, Social

Go Lean Commentary

Be our guest
Put our services to the test …
– Song: Be Our Guest from the Movie: Beauty and the Beast – See Appendices below.

The economic principle – slavery – at the origins of Caribbean society had both winners and losers: for the slaves, it was a Bad Start; but for the slave masters it was a Life of Leisure, they had servants to do all the heavy-lifting to sustain their life.

Change came … slavery ended …

… most of the slave masters left the region. A transformation had to take place: socially, politically and economically. So yes, the Caribbean transformed economically from that Bad Start.

Or did we?

Now the primary economic driver in the region – every member-state – is tourism. We are still in the Life of Leisure business. Except now, instead of a Life of Leisure it is now only a week of leisure, or a forth-night, or a month, or a season (i.e. Winter Snowbirds). We have replaced one master for multiple masters at the resort properties; “one master at a time” still enjoys the leisure.

The more things change, the more they remain the same!

For the former slaves, the Black-and-Brown of Caribbean society, the community ethos – (the fundamental character or spirit of a culture; the underlying sentiment that informs the beliefs, customs, or practices of a group or society) – for them changed from a spirit of servitude to a spirit of Hospitality. Consider the historicity of Hospitality from a Judeo-Christian perspective:

Hospitality – refers to the relationship between a guest and a host, wherein the host receives the guest with goodwill, including the reception and entertainment of guests, visitors, or strangers. Louis, Chevalier de Jaucourt describes hospitality in the Encyclopédie as the virtue of a great soul that cares for the whole universe through the ties of humanity.^[4] …

Historical practices – In ancient cultures hospitality involved welcoming the stranger and offering him food, shelter, and safety.^[7] …

Judaism … praises hospitality to strangers and guests based largely on the examples of Abraham and Lot in the Book of Genesis(Genesis 18:1–8 and 19:1–8). In Hebrew, the practice is called hachnasat orchim, or “welcoming guests”. Besides other expectations, hosts are expected to provide nourishment, comfort, and entertainment for their guests,^[10] and at the end of the visit, hosts customarily escort their guests out of their home, wishing them a safe journey.^[11] …

Christianity … hospitality is a virtue which is a reminder of sympathy for strangers and a rule to welcome visitors.^[12] This is a virtue found in the Old Testament, with, for example, the custom of the foot washing of visitors or the kiss of peace.^[13][14] It was taught by Jesus in the New Testament [as well]. Indeed, Jesus said that those who had welcomed a stranger had welcomed him.^[15] Some Western countries have developed a host culture for immigrants, based on the Bible.^[16] – Source: Wikipedia

Now consider the fantasy associated with Hospitality in our pop culture. See this song-and-dance – Be Our Guest – from the animated movie “Beauty and the Beast” in the Appendix VIDEO below.

In general, the better we are at Hospitality, the better the financial rewards – think gratuity.

This has resulted in distortions in our society. The rules of Hospitality means that we place the needs of the “Stranger” ahead of the needs of the neighbor. Consider the above scriptural reference in Genesis 19:1 – 8, where Lot extended hospitality to two strangers while in the City of Sodom. He “urged them not to spend the night in the public square”. The strangers accepted his hospitality, but before they could retire, a mob surrounded Lot’s house, “from boy to old man.” They cried out to Lot that he turn over his guests for immoral purposes, but he [Lot] firmly refused; he protected them, even offering to pacify the mob with the offer of his own family members.

In these modern days, albeit public safety protections for all in society including strangers, along come Direct Foreign Investors. We perceive that their needs supersede the needs of the “townspeople”. Everyone, everywhere senses this. At times, the Direct Foreign Investor is even pejoratively referred to as “Dragons”. This theme was elaborated upon in a previous blog-commentary; see quotation here:

… assigning the term “Dragon” to a “Dependence on Foreign Investors” or DFI. …
Normally DFI refer to Direct Foreign Investment, but in this case the “Dependence on Foreign Investors” is portrayed as a negative factor or pest – a dragon – unless “trained”, caroled and controlled to harness the energy in a positive way. …

The [Go Lean] book, and accompanying blogs posit that “dragons can be trained”. The sad state of affairs in Freeport (Bahamas 2nd City] can be turned around by the embrace of a “double down” strategy on the island’s nascent ship-building industry [in place on the sole reliance of tourism].

This – shift to depending on hospitality of strangers – is What Went Wrong in the Caribbean development. Time for a change!

The 2013 book Go Lean … Caribbean opened with this warning:

The Caribbean has tried, strenuously, over the decades, to diversify their economy away from the mono-industrial trappings of tourism, and yet tourism is still the primary driver of the economy. Prudence dictates that the Caribbean nations expand and optimize their tourism products, but also look for other opportunities for economic expansion. The requisite investment of the resources (time, talent, treasuries) for this goal may be too big for any one Caribbean member-state. Rather, shifting the responsibility to a region-wide, professionally-managed, deputized technocracy will result in greater production and greater accountability. This deputized agency is the Caribbean Union Trade Federation (CU).

To recap, it is not Tourism that is wrong is the Caribbean, rather it is the spirit of ” only accommodation to strangers” that is wrong. It subverts the community ethos and causes the stakeholders to become complacent, and settled that the “Foreign Man” – the Tourist or the Investor – will take care of us, rather than taking the necessary steps to take care of ourselves, like leveraging and confederating with our neighbors, our neighboring communities and neighboring islands.

This is What Went Wrong in Caribbean history, society and culture.

Make happy those who are near, and those who are far will come”. – Ancient Chinese Proverb

This commentary continues the July series from the movement behind the book Go Lean…Caribbean. This submission, 4-of-6 on the theme “What Went Wrong?” focuses on Caribbean history and why we still have many of the same defects that other societies – think North America and Europe yes, but even Asia – have already remediated. The full catalog:

What Went Wrong? Asking ‘Why’ is Important
What Went Wrong? ‘We’ never had our war!
What Went Wrong? ‘7 to 1’ – Caribbean ‘Less Than’
What Went Wrong? ‘Be our Guest’ – The Rules of Hospitality
What Went Wrong? Failing the Lessons from Infrastructure 101
What Went Wrong? Losing the Best; Nation-building with the Rest

In this series, reference is made to the need for a comprehensive roadmap for elevating the regional engines of Caribbean society, for the full 30 member-states. The challenges are too big for any one member-state alone. We need the whole neighborhood, despite the language, race, colonial heritage or political structure – we need All Hands on Deck. The movement behind the Go Lean book asserts that this change is possible; we do not want to abandon Tourism; no, we want to optimize it and make it even better as an economic engine for our region. See how this theme was developed in many previous Go Lean commentaries; see a sample list here:

https://goleancaribbean.com/blog/?p=17337	Industrial Reboot – Amusement Parks
https://goleancaribbean.com/blog/?p=17072	Cruise Ports ‘Held Hostage’ – Need to Reboot Cruise Eco-System
https://goleancaribbean.com/blog/?p=15907	Industrial Reboot – Navy Pier 101
https://goleancaribbean.com/blog/?p=15844	Doubling Down on “Snowbird” Tourism
https://goleancaribbean.com/blog/?p=15521	The Need for Caribbean Unity to Mitigate Tourism Missteps
https://goleancaribbean.com/blog/?p=15380	Industrial Reboot – Cruise Tourism 2.0
https://goleancaribbean.com/blog/?p=15378	Industrial Reboot – Tourism 2.0
https://goleancaribbean.com/blog/?p=13856	Bad Case Study: Baha Mar – Doubling-down on Failure

All of the Caribbean had the historic background in slavery. Most of the Caribbean profess the Judeo-Christian religious affiliation. Most of the Caribbean have Tourism as the primary industry. The propensity for the Judeo-Christian form of hospitality and the mono-industrial expressions of Tourism is more than coincidental:

It is What Went Wrong with the Caribbean.

Now the focus must be on the changes that we need to move forward – the Way Forward.

Finally, we need to reboot our societal engines. While still extending our arms of hospitality in touristic expressions, we need to double-down in working with our neighbors – all neighbors in the region. We must convene, collude, cooperate, collaborate and confederate to address all our collective problems with collective solutions.

And we must carol and control our invitation of hospitality to Direct Foreign Investors – better train our dragons.

Yes, we can.

This is the urging of the book Go Lean…Caribbean and the resultant roadmap. We hereby urge all Caribbean stakeholders to lean-in to this roadmap. This roadmap is conceivable, believe and achievable. We can make our homeland a better place for all stakeholders to live, work and play. 🙂

About the Book
The book Go Lean…Caribbean serves as a roadmap for the introduction and implementation of the technocratic Caribbean Union Trade Federation (CU), for the elevation of Caribbean society – for all member-states. This CU/Go Lean roadmap has these 3 prime directives:

Optimization of the economic engines in order to grow the regional economy to $800 Billion and create 2.2 million new jobs.
Establishment of a security apparatus to ensure public safety and protect the resultant economic engines.
Improve Caribbean governance to support these engines, including a separation-of-powers between the member-states and CU federal agencies.

Download the free e-Book of Go Lean … Caribbean – now!

Who We Are
The movement behind the Go Lean book – a non-partisan, apolitical, religiously-neutral Community Development Foundation chartered for the purpose of empowering and re-booting economic engines – stresses that reforming and transforming the Caribbean societal engines must be a regional pursuit. This was an early motivation for the roadmap, as pronounced in the opening Declaration of Interdependence (Pages 12 – 13):

iv. Whereas the natural formation of the landmass is in a tropical region, the flora and fauna allows for an inherent beauty that is enviable to peoples near and far. The structures must be strenuously guarded to protect and promote sustainable systems of commerce paramount to this reality.

xi. Whereas all men are entitled to the benefits of good governance in a free society, “new guards” must be enacted to dissuade the emergence of incompetence, corruption, nepotism and cronyism at the peril of the people’s best interest. The Federation must guarantee the executions of a social contract between government and the governed.

xvi. Whereas security of our homeland is inextricably linked to prosperity of the homeland, the economic and security interest of the region needs to be aligned under the same governance. Since economic crimes … can imperil the functioning of the wheels of commerce for all the citizenry, the accedence of this Federation must equip the security apparatus with the tools and techniques for predictive and proactive interdictions.

xxiv. Whereas a free market economy can be induced and spurred for continuous progress, the Federation must install the controls to better manage aspects of the economy: jobs, inflation, savings rate, investments and other economic principles. Thereby attracting direct foreign investment because of the stability and vibrancy of our economy.

Sign the petition to lean-in for this roadmap for the Caribbean Union Trade Federation.

————–

Appendix VIDEO – Be Our Guest | Beauty and the Beast | Lyrics – https://youtu.be/GXlgmqHpBkU

Disney DeKa
Published on Jul 8, 2011 – I do not own anything! Thanks for watching 🙂

Category: Film & Animation
Suggested by Disney Enterprises Inc: Beauty and the Beast

————–

Appendix – Lyrics: Be Our Guest | Beauty and the Beast

“Ma chere Mademoiselle, it is with deepest pride
And greatest pleasure that we welcome you tonight
And now we invite you to relax, let us pull up a chair
As the dining room proudly presents
Your dinner!”

Be our guest, be our guest
Put our service to the test
Tie your napkin ’round your neck, cherie
And we’ll provide the rest
Soup du jour, hot hors d’oeuvres
Why, we only live to serve
Try the grey stuff, it’s delicious
Don’t believe me, ask the dishes

They can sing, they can dance
After all, miss, this is France
And a dinner here is never second best
Go on, unfold your menu
Take a glance and then you’ll
Be our guest oui, our guest
Be our guest

Beef ragout, cheese soufflé
Pie and pudding, on flambé
We’ll prepare and serve with flair
A culinary cabaret
You’re alone and you’re scared
But the banquet’s all prepared
No one’s gloomy or complaining
While the flatware’s entertaining
We tell jokes, I do tricks
With my fellow candlesticks

And it’s all in perfect taste that you can bet
Come on and lift your glass
You’ve won your own free pass
To be our guest if you’re stressed
It’s fine dining we suggest
Be our guest, be our guest, be our guest

Life is so unnerving
For a servant who’s not serving
He’s not whole without a soul to wait upon
Ah, those good old days when we were useful (hey Cogsworth)
Suddenly those good old days are gone
Too long we’ve been rusting
Needing so much more than dusting
Needing exercise, a chance to use our skills!
Most days we just lay around the castle
Flabby, fat and lazy
You walked in and oops-a-daisy!

It’s a guest, it’s a guest
Sake’s alive, well I’ll be blessed!
Wine’s been poured and thank the Lord
I’ve had the napkins freshly pressed
With dessert, she’ll want tea
And my dear that’s fine with me
While the cups do their soft-shoein’
I’ll be bubbling, I’ll be brewing

I’ll get warm, piping hot
Heaven’s sakes! Is that a spot?
Clean it up, we want the company impressed
We’ve got a lot to do!
Is it one lump or two?
For you, our guest (she’s our guest)
She’s our guest (she’s our guest)

Be our guest, be our guest!
Our command is your request
It’s been years since we’ve had anybody here
And we’re obsessed
With your meal, with your ease
Yes, indeed, we aim to please
While the candlelight’s still glowing
Let us help you, we’ll keep going

Course by course, one by one
‘Til you shout, “enough I’m done!”
Then we’ll sing you off to sleep as you digest
Tonight you’ll prop your feet up
But for now, let’s eat up
Be our guest
Be our guest
Be our guest
Please, be our guest

Source: Retrieved July 25, 2019 from: https://www.lyrics.com/lyric/33715733/Alan+Menken/Be+Our+Guest

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Jobs, Model, Tourism, Trade, Transform

Industrial Reboot – Amusement Parks

Posted on May 8, 2019 in Industries, Locations, Strategy

Go Lean Commentary

We need a Way Forward.

We need to double-down in our economic engines and do “it” bigger, stronger, better. The “it” refers to our tourism product offerings. Tourism is already the primary economic driver in the region, but the current harvest is not fertile enough. We need to reboot the amenities-and-attractions and transform the landscape with more industrial options.

One way for industrializing tourism is with Amusement Parks.

Are we talking about Amusement Parks like Disney Land & Disney World?

Maybe!

Even more so, we are talking about Amusement Parks at resort hotels and cruise ship private island destinations. See the sample destination in the news story here:

Title: CocoCay: Cruise line’s $250 million private island opens

(CNN) — Thanks to a $250 million transformation, Royal Caribbean’s once-sleepy private island retreat in the Bahamas is offering eye-opening travel amenities to its cruise passengers.

The island, Perfect Day at CocoCay, offers everything from a record-setting water slide and a massive wave pool to five new complimentary dining venues and quiet sandy beaches.

“We are so proud to bring our 50-year legacy of innovation ashore to transform an incredible island that now completely revolutionizes private destinations in the vacation industry,” said Michael Bayley, Royal Caribbean International’s president and CEO, in a statement.

Reviews site Cruise Critic seconds that notion. Colleen McDaniel, the site’s editor-in-chief, said the “revolutionary” island is “really upping the cruise line private island game in terms of activities ashore.”

At CocoCay’s Thrill Waterpark, the fiery red and orange Daredevil’s Peak water slide towers over the park’s other 12 slides. At 135 feet, it’s North America’s tallest water slide.

CocoCay is also home to the Caribbean’s largest wave pool, a 1,600-foot-long zip line and a helium balloon tethered to the ground that provides guests with a vantage point 450 feet high.

Oasis Lagoon, the Caribbean’s largest freshwater pool, has a large swim-up bar and private cabanas.

McDaniel believes Royal Caribbean may create some cruising converts with this private island offering packed with activities.

“Beyond creating incredible experiences for your avid customers, that’s where an investment of this magnitude has the potential to really pay off — to catch the eye of those who might not have ever tried cruising but are intrigued by this exclusive new experience,” she said.

There’s an added benefit to cruise line private islands, McDaniel said. They help the cruise lines stagger their itineraries and relieve crowds in popular ports.

“The Caribbean is the cruise industry’s most popular region, in terms of passengers and ship deployment,” she said. “So having private islands to add to itineraries is quite helpful to the lines to help preserve the in-port guest experience and the port’s own capacity.”

Perfect Day at CocoCay had its grand opening over the weekend. Itineraries that include a stop at the revamped island are listed online.

One area of CocoCay won’t be completed until December. When it opens at the end of the year, Coco Beach Club will feature the Bahamas’ first overwater cabanas, each with its own slide into the ocean. There will also be a 2,600-foot beachfront infinity pool and a club and deck area.

CocoCay is the first in a planned collection of Royal Caribbean Perfect Day islands. Additional private island locations are expected in the Caribbean, Asia and Australia.

Several other cruise lines have private islands in the Bahamas, among them Disney Cruise Line’s Castaway Cay and Holland America’s Half Moon Cay.

Source: CNN Travel’s Play Column – Published May 7, 2019; retrieved May 8, 2019 from: https://edition.cnn.com/travel/article/cococay-royal-caribbean-private-island-bahamas/index.html

Yes, there are Amusement Parks in the Caribbean – think: water slides and a wave pools – and there could/should be more.

Yes, we can!

In fact, in a previous commentary by the movement behind the book Go Lean…Caribbean, it was related how the World’s Largest Amusement Park – Walt Disney World in Orlando, Florida – was first propositioned to be located in the Bahamas. Had we made such a community investment back then, imagine the returns on our economy and infrastructure. The book describes that such an implementation can impact many of the societal engines – think: economy, security and governance.

The Amusement Park-based economy contributes tremendously to the actuality of Orlando, Florida and the State of Florida in general. Now, there is the quest to make more investments like these in Caribbean communities. This is among the Industrial Reboots that we must do to reform and transform our society. This strategy was addressed back in 2013 in the previously identified Go Lean book. The articulated strategy was to invest in Fairgrounds. This summary is detailed on Page 192 of the book under the title – “10 Ways to Promote Fairgrounds“:

# 1 – Lean-in for the Caribbean Single Market & Economy initiative: Caribbean Union Trade Federation (CU).
The CU is chartered to unify the Caribbean region into one Single Market of 42 million people across 30 member-states, thereby re-engineering the economic engines in and on behalf of the region, including the infrastructural needs to enhance tourism. A CU mission to impact events require complete fairgrounds with the facilities to stage festivals, fairs, sporting events, concerts and theatrical performances, much like the Fair Park model in Dallas, Texas. An eco-system around fairgrounds will impact so many aspect of Caribbean life, engaging the domestic and foreign (tourist) markets. …

# 4 – Amusement Parks
The CU region is ideal for the implementation of advance technological amusement parks, the region as a whole enjoy over 10 million cruise passengers – year round. The right mix of computer-aided audio-visual, 3-D, animatronics, live action performers could result in a boom in the region, spinning off jobs, construction, lodgings and other activities.

Investing in Amusement Parks will mean rebooting the industrial landscape of the Caribbean. Rebooting the industrial landscape is not a new subject for this Go Lean movement; this commentary has previously identified a number of industrial initiatives to launch a reboot in the region. See the chronological list of previous submissions on Industrial Reboots here:

Industrial Reboots – Ferries 101 – Published June 27, 2017
Industrial Reboots – Prisons 101 – Published October 4, 2017
Industrial Reboots – Pipeline 101 – Published October 5, 2017
Industrial Reboots – Frozen Foods 101 – Published October 6, 2017
Industrial Reboots – Call Centers 101 – Published July 2, 2018
Industrial Reboots – Prefab Housing 101 – Published July 14, 2018
Industrial Reboots – Trauma 101 – Published July 18, 2018
Industrial Reboots – Auto-making 101 – Published July 19, 2018
Industrial Reboots – Shipbuilding 101 – Published July 20, 2018
Industrial Reboots – Fisheries 101 – Published July 23, 2018
Industrial Reboots – Lottery 101 – Published July 24, 2018
Industrial Reboots – Culture 101 – Published July 25, 2018
Industrial Reboots – Tourism 2.0 – Published July 27, 2018
Industrial Reboots – Cruise Tourism 2.0 – Published July 27, 2018
Industrial Reboots – Reinsurance Sidecars 101 – Published October 2, 2018
Industrial Reboots – Navy Piers 101 – Published October 9, 2018
Industrial Reboots – Payment Cards 101 – Published October 11, 2018
Industrial Reboots – Amusements Parks 101 – Published TODAY May 8, 2019

In summary, our Caribbean region needs a better industrial landscape to improve our economics, security and governance. We can easily make investments in small, resort-based Amusement Parks. We are not envisioning the level of Disney World, but rather more like the attraction in the foregoing news article and the infrastructure at Atlantis in Nassau & Paradise Island in the Bahamas. See Photos here and VIDEO in the Appendix below:

We must do more. The Caribbean’s industrial landscape is in crisis. It must reboot!

Amusement Parks can help to optimize our tourism offerings through out the region, in every member-state. In fact, the CU/Go Lean roadmap calls for the introduction and implementation of Self-Governing Entities (SGE) as CU federal promoted ventures to optimize this business model. This SGE concept is ideal for fairgrounds, industrial and Amusement Parks – even ports and piers – with their exclusive federal regulation-promotion activities. Imagine the quick turn-around and cooperative partnerships with local government and municipal authorities. Imagine the jobs …

Within the 370-pages of the Go Lean book are more details of the eco-systems needed to consider these investments. Here is a sample of references to this strategy of Amusement Parks through-out the Go Lean book:

Advocacy – 10 Ways to Grow the Economy

#5 – Enterprise Zones & Empowerment Zones for 2 million jobs
This includes Industrial Parks, Theatre Districts, Amusement Parks, Bonded Warehouses and Duty Free ports, some managed as Self Governing Entities (SGE). Though some zones exist now, the formalization under the CU will bring more tax (sales, property & income tax rebates) and economic incentives (low interest loans & grants) and stimuli (advertising and event promotions)…

Page 151

Advocacy – 10 Ways to Foster Empowering Immigration
# 7 – Carnies – Event Staff
The CU plan calls for the deployment of Fairgrounds throughout the region. With these facilities come amusement park-like rides and events, or carnivals. There is an eco-system for carnival ride operators or “carnies”. These are considered highly skilled and experience is necessary for the operators. Carnies will therefore be invited on these SGE Fairgrounds.

Page 174

Advocacy – 10 Ways to Enhance Tourism

# 3 – Fairgrounds/Amusement Parks Empowerment Zones
Encourage the establishment and promotion of Fairgrounds/Amusement Parks (Disney, Sea World, Busch Gardens-like attractions) that can bring in vast number of visitors. The empowerment zones get special tax incentives and building code variances, or managed as Self Governing Entities (SGE) in which they are beholden only to the CU jurisdiction. Many US and European theme parks are only open during the warm seasons, the opposite can be advocated in the Caribbean region, where theme parks may only be open during the “high season”, or only when cruise ships are in port.

Page 190

This is the vision for more Amusement Parks while we reboot our industrial landscape! This is the type of transformations that will allow us to reboot our societal engines to elevate our communities.

These efforts are Day One / Step One of the Go Lean/CU 5-year roadmap. Let’s get busy!

We urge all Caribbean stakeholders to lean-in to this roadmap for industrial reboots and for Amusement Parks. Yes, we can … make our homelands better places to live, work and play. 🙂

Optimization of the economic engines in order to grow the regional economy to $800 Billion and create 2.2 million new jobs.
Establishment of a security apparatus to ensure public safety and protect the resultant economic engines.
Improve Caribbean governance to support these engines, including a separation-of-powers between the member-states and CU federal agencies.

Download the free e-Book of Go Lean … Caribbean – now!

iv. Whereas the natural formation of the landmass is in a tropical region, the flora and fauna allows for an inherent beauty that is enviable to peoples near and far. The structures must be strenuously guarded to protect and promote sustainable systems of commerce paramount to this reality.

xi. Whereas all men are entitled to the benefits of good governance in a free society, “new guards” must be enacted to dissuade the emergence of incompetence, corruption, nepotism and cronyism at the peril of the people’s best interest. The Federation must guarantee the executions of a social contract between government and the governed.

xvi. Whereas security of our homeland is inextricably linked to prosperity of the homeland, the economic and security interest of the region needs to be aligned under the same governance. Since economic crimes … can imperil the functioning of the wheels of commerce for all the citizenry, the accedence of this Federation must equip the security apparatus with the tools and techniques for predictive and proactive interdictions.

xxiv. Whereas a free market economy can be induced and spurred for continuous progress, the Federation must install the controls to better manage aspects of the economy: jobs, inflation, savings rate, investments and other economic principles. Thereby attracting direct foreign investment because of the stability and vibrancy of our economy.

Sign the petition to lean-in for this roadmap for the Caribbean Union Trade Federation.

—————

Appendix VIDEO – All Big Water Slides at Atlantis Paradise Island | Nassau, Bahamas- https://youtu.be/oiR8GbeNms0

TUBERIDES
Published on Jul 24, 2016 – Take a ride on all big water rides at Atlantis Paradise Island, Nassau, Bahamas! The Aquaventure water park at the world-famous Atlantis Resort is home to several slides which are impressively embedded into a landscape of palms, rocks and pools. In this video, we show you onride footage of the major slides at the park.

——-

RIDES:
00:10 Kids’ Slide 1
00:17 The Challenger (Kamikaze Slide) Left
00:34 Jungle Slide
00:50 Kids’ Slide 2
00:54 The Falls
01:18 Leap Of Faith
01:31 The Challenger (Kamikaze Slide) Right
01:42 The Abyss (Drop Slide)
02:01 Green Tube Slide
02:13 The Drop
02:52 Power Tower (Master Blaster)
03:26 Serpent Slide (Shark Water Slide)
04:17 River Rapids
► HOMEPAGE: http://www.tuberides.de
► FACEBOOK: http://www.facebook.com/tuberides
► TWITTER: http://www.twitter.com/tuberides
► INSTAGRAM: http://www.instagram.com/tuberides

Category: Entertainment

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Bahamas, Jobs, Model, Tourism

[Top]

Caribbean Cruise Port ‘Held Hostage’

Posted on March 18, 2019 in Economics, Government, Industries, Locations, Strategy

Go Lean Commentary

So you think you’re independent?

The twin-island nation of Antigua & Barbuda was granted independence from the United Kingdom on 1 November 1981. This status allows them to govern their own country; make decisions that they feel are in the best interest for their nation.

But the primary industry in this country is tourism. So this means that there is dependence on external (foreign) stakeholders to provide transportation solutions, travel agency, lodging and/or leisure cruises. So the country’s attitude should never be arrogant, haughty or uncooperative. They cannot approach any negotiation with a cruise line with this attitude:

“My way or the Highway”!

The cruise line response would resemble some rendition of this spirit:

Hold my beer!

This is what is happening in some re-negotiations between Antigua and Carnival Cruise Lines. As reported by the Antigua Daily Observer newspaper on February 26, 2019, Prime Minister Gaston Browne accuses Carnival and the entire Florida-Caribbean Cruise Association (FCCA) of “exploiting Caribbean countries for lower visitor tax rates [(head tax)]”.

The country is attempting to influence this corporation with their offering of only one port-of-call – 2 piers in St. John – while the full region is 30 member-states. Rather than single government negotiations, the 2013 book Go Lean …Caribbean asserts that the region must adopt a collective bargaining strategy among the full universe of Caribbean ports-of-call, introducing the Caribbean Union Trade Federation (CU) as a collective bargaining agent. The book states (Page 32):

Cruise Line Collective Bargaining – Setting Matters Straight
The CU will collectively bargain with operators to garner more benefits and protections. In general, port cities are not gleaning much income from ship visits. In order to reboot the industry’s economic impact, changes need to be made, rescinding some exploitive rules the ships implemented and adding some new products, like smartcard e-purse options.

Carnival Cruise Line is overmatched compared to the small island nation of Antigua. The holding company, Carnival Corporation, is identified as a significant stakeholder in the global cruise industry in general and Caribbean tourism in particular; they own/market all of these cruise line brands (10):

Carnival Cruise Lines
Holland America
Cunard
Princess
P&O Cruises
P&O Cruises Australia
The Yachts of Seabourn
Costa Cruises
AIDA
IberoCruceros

To compete, Antigua needs interdependence with their Caribbean neighbors – confederation and collective bargaining. Carnival is holding Antigua hostage. See the news article here reporting this drama, and an aligning VIDEO:

Title: More Cruise Lines Pull Out of Caribbean Port
By: Ben Souza
A few days ago, Cruise Fever reported that Carnival Cruise Line had canceled all port stops to Antigua. Now, additional cruise lines have pulled out of the Caribbean port according to the Antigua Observer.

In addition to Carnival Cruise Line, Holland America Line and luxury line Seabourn have canceled future port stops in Antigua. All three cruise lines operate under the Carnival Corporation umbrella.

These two new cruise lines that canceled port stops each had two cruise ships scheduled to visit the Caribbean port during the next Caribbean season.

Why have these three cruise lines canceled their scheduled calls to Antigua? The cruise lines have stated that government officials have made the cruise lines feel unwelcome.

These new cancelations were somewhat expected. The Prime Minister gave the following statement when Carnival Cruise Line first announced they were pulling out of the port:

“Once Carnival has started the cancellation, unfortunately, I expect to see cancellations from all of its brands. I wouldn’t be surprised to see Princess, Holland America, Seabourn and other European Lines making cancellations going forward.”

Antigua is a popular cruise destination in the Southern Caribbean, especially during winter months.

Cruise ships that have canceled a port stop in Antigua will visit an alternative port.

Cruise Fever will have all new information about this developing situation in Antigua when it becomes available.

Source: Posted and retrieved March 17, 2019 from: https://cruisefever.net/more-cruise-lines-pull-out-of-caribbean-port/

—-

Ben Souza has written thousands of articles on cruising and currently takes between 8-10 cruises a year. His writings have appeared and been cited in various media outlets such as Yahoo News, MSN, NPR, Drudge Report, CNN, and ABC News. Ben currently resides in Cincinnati, Ohio. Visit Ben Souza on Linkedin. You may email Ben at Ben@cruisefever.net.

—————–

VIDEO – Update: Antigua Government To Meet With Carnival Over Cruise Cancellations – https://youtu.be/3CQzQb_2vUQ

Travelling with Bruce

Published on Mar 16, 2019 – Update: Antigua Government To Meet With Carnival Over Cruise Cancellations Norwegian Cruise Lines and MSC Cruises have both backed the government and have committed to sailing to the country going forward. After Prime Minister Browne contacted Carnival’s CEO the two parties have agreed to have a face to face meeting with each other to try to resolve their differences. #antigua #carnivalcruiselines #norwegiancruisenews #mscnews #globalportsholdings #antiguanews #caribbeancruise #hollandamericanews #seabournnews #cruisenews

Category: Travel & Events

We told you! Any Way Forward for better cruise line negotiations must include collective bargaining. This theme aligns with previous blog-commentaries from the movement behind the Go Lean book; see a sample list here:

https://goleancaribbean.com/blog/?p=16645	Bad Partners – Cruise Lines Interactions
https://goleancaribbean.com/blog/?p=15380	Industrial Reboot – Cruise Tourism 2.0
https://goleancaribbean.com/blog/?p=11544	Forging Change in the Cruise eco-system: Collective Bargaining
https://goleancaribbean.com/blog/?p=6635	Security Chip in credit cards unveiled: Now Ready for Cruise eco-system
https://goleancaribbean.com/blog/?p=5210	Cruise Ship Commerce – Getting Ready for Change

We warned, alerted and cautioned you Caribbean stakeholders that “Big Cruise Line Abuse” would happen. Carnival seems to be counting on our disunity. This is not just our thoughts alone; others have opined:

Carnival holds all of the cards in situations like this. The notion that a sovereign country like Antigua is an equal “partner” to an 800 pound gorilla like Carnival is fanciful. If a cruise line can make a better deal with an island next door, which charges a lower head tax, has fewer environmental restrictions, or is willing to foot the bill for a larger dock, then it’s ‘see ya later’ as far as the cruise line goes.” – Source: CruiseLawNews

The solution (Way Forward) for this type of one-sided negotiation advantage is not secretive or proprietary; rather it is the stated purpose of the Go Lean book and this resultant roadmap: “Come together“; collaborate; consensus-build and confederate.

Prime Minister Browne explained that the only way for small countries like Antigua to fight the FCCA is to form a regional port facility.

“Unless the entire Caribbean comes together and forms a regional port facility and mandate that [the Cruise Associations] pay more, we will continue to end up in problems and have to subsidise that sector …” – Source: CruiseLawNews

Yes, we can … come together and make our homeland a better place to live, work and play. 🙂

Optimization of the economic engines in order to grow the regional economy to $800 Billion and create 2.2 million new jobs.
Establishment of a security apparatus to ensure public safety and protect the resultant economic engines.
Improve Caribbean governance to support these engines, including a separation-of-powers between the member-states and CU federal agencies.

Download the free e-Book of Go Lean … Caribbean – now!

vi. Whereas the finite nature of the landmass of our lands limits the populations and markets of commerce, by extending the bonds of brotherhood to our geographic neighbors allows for extended opportunities and better execution of the kinetics of our economies through trade. This regional focus must foster and promote diverse economic stimuli.

viii. Whereas the population size is too small to foster good negotiations for products and commodities from international vendors, the Federation must allow the unification of the region as one purchasing [or bargaining] agent, thereby garnering better terms and discounts.

x. Whereas we are surrounded and allied to nations of larger proportions in land mass, populations, and treasuries, elements in their societies may have ill-intent in their pursuits, at the expense of the safety and security of our citizens. We must therefore appoint “new guards” to ensure our public safety and threats against our society, both domestic and foreign. The Federation must employ the latest advances and best practices … to assuage continuous threats …

xi. Whereas all men are entitled to the benefits of good governance in a free society, “new guards” must be enacted to dissuade the emergence of incompetence, corruption, nepotism and cronyism at the peril of the people’s best interest. The Federation must guarantee the executions of a social contract between government and the governed.

xvi. Whereas security of our homeland is inextricably linked to prosperity of the homeland, the economic and security interest of the region needs to be aligned under the same governance. Since economic crimes … can imperil the functioning of the wheels of commerce for all the citizenry, the accedence of this Federation must equip the security apparatus with the tools and techniques for predictive and proactive interdictions.

xxiv. Whereas a free market economy can be induced and spurred for continuous progress, the Federation must install the controls to better manage aspects of the economy: jobs, inflation, savings rate, investments and other economic principles. Thereby attracting direct foreign investment because of the stability and vibrancy of our economy.

Sign the petition to lean-in for this roadmap for the Caribbean Union Trade Federation.

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Antigua, Cruise, Power, Tourism, Transform

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Uber: A Better ‘Mousetrap’

Posted on March 13, 2019 in Economics, Industries, Strategy

Go Lean Commentary

There is a popular business idiom:

Build a better mousetrap and the world will beat a path to your door.

This has been proven true time and again. Think:

Digital photography better than chemical photo-finishing.
Wireless touch-tone phones better than wired handset dial phones.

Now, we are learning that car-ride-sharing solutions – like Uber or Lyft – are actually working successfully. They are faster, better and cheaper than other transportation options, like taxi’s and rental cars.

Rental cars?

This was the test/comparison in the VIDEO below. For the sake of this exercise, a news correspondent and his producer, started at the same origin to go to the same destination; one by Uber and the other via a rental car. For every category of comparison, the Uber option out-performed the rental car: faster, better, cheaper. See the VIDEO here:

VIDEO – Ride-sharing vs. car rental: Which is best for your vacation? – https://www.today.com/video/ride-sharing-vs-car-rental-which-is-best-for-your-vacation-1456378435570

Posted March 12, 2019 – March is the month when many head out on vacation to escape to warmer climates. But here’s a question of dollars and cents: Does it make more sense to rent a car on your getaway or get around via a ride-sharing app? NBC’s Kerry Sanders investigates.

This is not some exercise in futility. For the Caribbean, we must pay more than the usual attention to this experience. The city in focus for this exercise is the tourist mecca of Orlando, Florida, home to Super Theme Parks: Disney World and Universal Studios. This exercise therefore relates to any tourist destination. This means us in the Caribbean, where tourism is our primary industry. The oft-reliable jobs of taxi drivers may soon be less reliable.

But, it might be argued that local governments can simply ban ride-sharing companies like Uber, Lyft, etc..

Alas, the “genie is out-of-the-bottle”; ICT or Internet Communications Technologies (and smartphones) make messaging and electronic commerce seamless and effortless. This is likened to holding back the tides. Resistance is futile!

The Change Agent cometh!

The book Go Lean … Caribbean identified the following 4 primary Change Agents that are devastating the Caribbean region:

The book asserts that no one Caribbean member-state can tackle any of these challenges alone; there is an urgent need – a Clear and Present Danger – to convene, collaborate, consolidate and confederate the response to these modern challenges – we need the economies-of-scale. This theme aligns with many previous Go Lean blog-commentaries; see a sample list here:

https://goleancaribbean.com/blog/?p=14191	Scheduling in the ‘Gig Economy’
https://goleancaribbean.com/blog/?p=8262	UberEverything in Africa
https://goleancaribbean.com/blog/?p=1364	Uber Demonstrations Snarl Traffic from London to Berlin
https://goleancaribbean.com/blog/?p=2571	More Business Travelers Flocking to Shared Economy and AirBnB
https://goleancaribbean.com/blog/?p=2126	Where the Jobs Are – Computers Reshaping Global Job Market
https://goleancaribbean.com/blog/?p=486	Temasek firm backs Southeast Asia cab booking app

Uber is NOT in many Caribbean member-states … yet.

“A rose by any other name would be just as sweet”.

What prevents any other company, innovator and/or entrepreneur from doing ride-sharing in the mode of Uber? Nothing! It is imminent, whether regulated or not.

Just watch!!!

Wait, instead of watching change derail our economic engines, the movement behind the Go Lean book asserts that “we” need to make change happen to enhance our economic engines. Lives and livelihoods are at stake.

Be the change we want to see in the world.

Taxi cabs and rental cars will be affected in the Shared/Gig Economy.

Don’t wait until it rains to obtain an umbrella.

The Caribbean region has been devastated from “the rain”, external factors: global economic recession, globalization and rapid technology changes. Have no fear, the Go Lean roadmap posits that this “crisis would be a terrible thing to waste“.

We can get ahead of these changes; we can innovate our economy and create new job and entrepreneurial opportunities. Being proactive and reactive to real changes in the real world will help to make our homeland a better place to live, work and play. We urged every Caribbean stakeholder to lean-in to this Go Lean roadmap. 🙂

Optimization of the economic engines in order to grow the regional economy to $800 Billion and create 2.2 million new jobs.
Establishment of a security apparatus to ensure public safety and protect the resultant economic engines.
Improve Caribbean governance to support these engines, including a separation-of-powers between the member-states and CU federal agencies.

Download the free e-Book of Go Lean … Caribbean – now!

xi. Whereas all men are entitled to the benefits of good governance in a free society, “new guards” must be enacted to dissuade the emergence of incompetence, corruption, nepotism and cronyism at the peril of the people’s best interest. The Federation must guarantee the executions of a social contract between government and the governed.

xvi. Whereas security of our homeland is inextricably linked to prosperity of the homeland, the economic and security interest of the region needs to be aligned under the same governance. Since economic crimes … can imperil the functioning of the wheels of commerce for all the citizenry, the accedence of this Federation must equip the security apparatus with the tools and techniques for predictive and proactive interdictions.

xxiv. Whereas a free market economy can be induced and spurred for continuous progress, the Federation must install the controls to better manage aspects of the economy: jobs, inflation, savings rate, investments and other economic principles. Thereby attracting direct foreign investment because of the stability and vibrancy of our economy.

Sign the petition to lean-in for this roadmap for the Caribbean Union Trade Federation.

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e-Commerce, ICT, Model, Tourism

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Industrial Reboot – Navy Pier 101

Posted on October 9, 2018 in Economics, Government, Industries, Strategy, Tactical

Go Lean Commentary

From small investments (seedlings) come big harvests. Remember the “mustard seed” …

“… like a grain of mustard seed, which a man took, and sowed in his field; which indeed is smaller than all seeds. But when it is grown, it is greater than the herbs, and becomes a tree, so that the birds of the air come and lodge in its branches.” — Matthew 13:31–32, World English Bible

Imagine an industrial reboot that can take a small investment – seed money – but grow into huge returns for the community.

Yes, we can!

The book Go Lean…Caribbean related a community investment that should be made in each Caribbean member-state, that of Navy Piers, and described how BIG returns can be gathered from the resultant infrastructure. The book describes that such an implementation can impact many of the societal engines – think: economy, security and governance.

What is a Navy Pier?

In short, it’s a dock … and “then some”. The most famous one, and name sake is in Chicago, Illinois; see historic details here:

Navy Pier is a 3,300-foot-long (1,010 m) pier on the Chicago shoreline of Lake Michigan. It is located in the Streeterville neighborhood of the Near North Side community area. The Navy Pier currently encompasses more than fifty acres of parks, gardens, shops, restaurants, family attractions and exhibition facilities and is the top leisure destination in the Midwestern United States (“Midwest”), drawing nearly nine million visitors annually.^[2] It is one of the most visited attractions in the entire Midwest and is Chicago’s number one tourist attraction.^[3]…
The Navy Pier opened to the public on July 15, 1916.^[4] … Its original purpose was to serve as a dock for freights, passenger traffic, and indoor and outdoor recreation; events like expositions and pageants were held there.

In the summer of 1918 the pier was also used as a jail for draft dodgers. In 1927, the pier was renamed Navy Pier to honor the naval veterans who served in World War I.

In 1941, during World War II, the pier became a training center for the U.S. Navy; about 10,000 people worked, trained, and lived there. The pier contained a 2,500-seat theater, gym, 12-chair barber shop, tailor, cobbler shops, soda fountain and a vast kitchen and hospital.^[6]…
In 1989, the City of Chicago had the Urban Land Institute (ULI) reimagine uses for the pier. The Metropolitan Pier and Exposition Authority (MPEA) was created; its responsibility was to manage and operate Navy Pier as well as McCormick Place. The MPEA undertook the redevelopment, incorporating some of ULI’s recommendations.^[8]

In 1995, Navy Pier was redesigned and introduced to the public as a mixed-use venue incorporating retail, dining, entertainment, and cultural spaces.

Starting in 2014, the redevelopment plan called The Centennial Vision was implemented. The purpose of this plan is to fulfill the mission to keep Navy Pier as a world-class public space and to renovate the pier so it will have more evening and year-round entertainment and more compelling landscape and design features.^[9] The Centennial Vision was completed in summer 2016.
Source: Retrieved October 8, 2018 from: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Navy_Pier

VIDEO – Navy Pier Ferris Wheel in Chicago – https://youtu.be/YVFx0FIb82g

Published on Nov 15, 2016 – Navy Pier’s ferris wheel, an iconic part of Chicago’s skyline, received a makeover this year for the pier’s 100th anniversary. Soaring nearly 200-feet high, the ferris wheel offers 360-degree views of the Windy City and is now taller and faster than ever.

The upgrades to the Navy Pier Ferris Wheel, AKA the Centennial Wheel, are part of a larger project to revitalize the pier, giving it a more modern, sophisticated feel. …

The new wheel is 50 feet taller than its predecessor. Each ride lasts about 13 minutes and rotates three times. A ride on the old ferris wheel was only seven minutes and rotated once. DAY/NIGHT; SUMMER/WINTER The new gondolas have air conditioning and heating systems. This improvement allows you to comfortably ride the Centennial Wheel in Chicago’s painfully cold winters and hot summers. The wheel operates during the day at after dark, offering two distinct experiences.

Category: Travel & Events

So where there is a coastline, there is an opportunity for a connecting pier. There are 3 types of piers that are common in the modern world: Working piers, Pleasure piers and Fishing piers. These do not need a lot of land; they are normally created as land-less structures into bodies of water. See this encyclopedic definition here:

A pier is a raised structure in a body of water, typically supported by well-spaced piles or pillars. Bridges, buildings, and walkways may all be supported by piers. Their open structure allows tides and currents to flow relatively unhindered, whereas the more solid foundations of a quay or the closely spaced piles of a wharf can act as a breakwater, and are consequently more liable to silting. Piers can range in size and complexity from a simple lightweight wooden structure to major structures extended over 1600 metres.

Coastlines abound throughout the Caribbean, as each of the 30 member-states is either an island or a coastal state (Belize, Guyana or Suriname). So this concept of a Navy Pier will be both a strategic and tactical implementation for the roadmap presented by the Go Lean book for the introduction and implementation of the technocratic Caribbean Union Trade Federation (CU). Consider the prime directives of the roadmap and how a Navy Pier can impact those directives:

Economics – The CU seeks to optimize the economic engines in order to grow the regional economy to $800 Billion and to create 2.2 million new jobs. Piers can be structured as event-entertainment destinations, even amusement parks abound. So a pier strategy can greatly impact tourism and recreation spending. Imagine new cruise ports-of-call.
Security – Navy Piers were originally designed for the Navy, an entity for national defense. Within the Go Lean roadmap, there is the plan for a comprehensive Homeland Security and Emergency Management apparatus to ensure public safety and protect the resultant economic engines. Imagine the quick roll-out of a floating pier after a hurricane for relief, recovery and restoration.
Governance – The CU seeks to improve Caribbean governance to support the above engines. This include a separation-of-powers between the member-states and CU federal agencies. Since ships can also be tendered at Navy Piers, many deliveries of the Social Contract can be built on these structures – imagine ferry access ramps, “pop-up” medical clinics, agencies for special administrative processing and kiosks. The CU plan for Self-Governing Entities allows for the piers themselves and any aligning easements to be a separate federal territory.

The Caribbean’s industrial landscape is in crisis. It must reboot! A Navy Pier can help … in every member-state. In fact the CU/Go Lean roadmap calls for a CU federal agency to build and operate – serve as landlord – the piers. Accordingly, the CU will facilitate this eco-system as Self-Governing Entities (SGE), an ideal concept for ports and piers, with its exclusive federal regulation/promotion activities. Imagine the construction equipment – dam walls, earth-moving machinery, dredging barges, etc – being used again and again as new Navy Piers are deployed through the region. Imagine the jobs …

Within the 370-pages of the Go Lean book are details of the job multiplier principle; this is how certain industries and infrastructures are better than others for generating multiple indirect jobs down the line for each direct job on a company’s payroll.

Here is a sample of references to the eco-system of piers through-out the Go Lean book:

Implementation – 10 Ways to Re-boot [Sample City] Freeport # 7 – Cruise Ship Pier in Lucaya or Smith Point Currently, cruise ships have to dock at the Freeport Harbor and the passengers transported to more amiable destinations, quite often the destination was the International Bazaar in the middle of a pine forest. By establishing a docking pier in the Port Lucaya vicinity, the cruise ship tourist destination will be all-encompassing in one geographic area and more value can be offered to the visitors. Cultural festivities (Gombay, Junkanoo, rake-n-scrape bands, etc.) can be a daily highlight; This would be modeling Walt Disney World’s 4 Parks and their afternoon character parades.	Page 112
Advocacy – 10 Ways to Impact Public Works # 2 – Union Atlantic Turnpike The Union Atlantic Turnpike is a big initiative of the CU to logistically connect all member-states for easier transport of goods and passengers. There are many transportation arteries and facilities envisioned for the Turnpike: Toll Roads, Railroads, Ferry Piers, and Navy Piers. …	Page 175
Advocacy – 10 Ways to Improve Homeland Security # 4 – Naval Authority Since any defense of the island and coastal states must be naval first, the Homeland Security efforts must work in conjunction with Naval operations. … The CU will build separate Navy Piers in the appropriate markets, aside from Cruise Ship docks.	Page 180
Advocacy – 10 Ways to Promote Fairgrounds # 9 – Transit Consideration – Turnpike – Navy Piers The Union Atlantic Turnpike initiative fits ideally into the fairgrounds business plan, as passengers and cargo can move efficiently from island to island along rail lines, toll highways, tunnels & causeways and over-the-seas ferries. The CU facilitation of Navy Piers can accommodate naval vessel shore leaves and even cruise ship traffic. …	Page 192
Advocacy – 10 Ways to Improve Fisheries # 2 – Cooperatives Fishery cooperatives allow fishermen and industry players to pool their resources in certain (non-competitive) areas of activity. This strategy is vital for sharing the cost and expense of installing piers/docks, locating systems (Loran-C & GPS), canaries, refrigerated warehouses and transportation solutions.	Page 210

This is the vision of an industrial reboot! A transformation for how and where a new societal eco-system can be introduced and engineered.

This Go Lean book projects the roll-out of the Union Atlantic Turnpike and accompanying Navy Piers as Day One / Step One of the Go Lean/CU roadmap. Over the 5-year implementation for this roadmap, more and more of the features of piers will be deployed and their effect on the region will be undeniable: they will help to make the whole Caribbean a better place to live, work and play.

The Go Lean book stresses that reforming and transforming Caribbean engines must be a regional pursuit. These piers need to be installed everywhere, every member-state, island and coastal state. But this effort is truly too big for any one member-state alone. This rationale, the need for interdependence, is the reason for the Caribbean Union. This interdependence was an early motivation for this roadmap; see these statements in the opening Declaration of Interdependence (Pages 12 – 13):

xvi. Whereas security of our homeland is inextricably linked to prosperity of the homeland, the economic and security interest of the region needs to be aligned under the same governance. Since economic crimes … can imperil the functioning of the wheels of commerce for all the citizenry, the accedence of this Federation must equip the security apparatus with the tools and techniques for predictive and proactive interdictions.

xxiv. Whereas a free market economy can be induced and spurred for continuous progress, the Federation must install the controls to better manage aspects of the economy: jobs, inflation, savings rate, investments and other economic principles. Thereby attracting direct foreign investment because of the stability and vibrancy of our economy.

xxvi. Whereas the Caribbean region must have new jobs to empower the engines of the economy and create the income sources for prosperity, and encourage the next generation to forge their dreams right at home, the Federation must therefore foster the development of new industries… . In addition, the Federation must invigorate the enterprises related to existing industries … – impacting the region with more jobs.

Installing Navy Piers will mean rebooting the industrial landscape of the Caribbean. This is not a new subject for this Go Lean roadmap; this commentary has previously identified a number of industrial initiatives to launch a reboot in the region. See the list of previous submissions on Industrial Reboots here:

Industrial Reboots – Ferries 101 – Published June 27, 2017
Industrial Reboots – Prisons 101 – Published October 4, 2017
Industrial Reboots – Pipeline 101 – Published October 5, 2017
Industrial Reboots – Frozen Foods 101 – Published October 6, 2017
Industrial Reboots – Call Centers 101 – Published July 2, 2018
Industrial Reboots – Prefab Housing 101 – Published July 14, 2018
Industrial Reboots – Trauma 101 – Published July 18, 2018
Industrial Reboots – Auto-making 101 – Published July 19, 2018
Industrial Reboots – Shipbuilding 101 – Published July 20, 2018
Industrial Reboots – Fisheries 101 – Published July 23, 2018
Industrial Reboots – Lottery 101 – Published July 24, 2018
Industrial Reboots – Culture 101 – Published July 25, 2018
Industrial Reboots – Tourism 2.0 – Published July 27, 2018
Industrial Reboots – Cruise Tourism 2.0 – Published July 27, 2018
Industrial Reboots – Reinsurance Sidecars 101 – Published October 2, 2018
Industrial Reboots – Navy Piers 101 – Published Today – October 9, 2018

In summary, our Caribbean region needs a better industrial landscape to improve our economics, security and governance. We can make small investments – think mustard seeds – that can yield huge returns. This is too appealing to ignore.

Let’s get going!

We urge all Caribbean stakeholders to lean-in to this roadmap for industrial reboots, to make our region better islands and coastal states to live, work and play. 🙂

Download the free e-Book of Go Lean … Caribbean – now!

Sign the petition to lean-in for this roadmap for the Caribbean Union Trade Federation.

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Jobs, Model, Tourism, Transform

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First Day of Autumn – Let’s Get Going South – ENCORE

Posted on September 22, 2018 in Industries, Strategy

This should be the start of the peak tourist season – its the First Day of Autumn, its time to head South.

The movement behind the book Go Lean … Caribbean asserts that Caribbean tourism can be rebooted, reformed and transformed to capture a reliable market of Snowbirds – people who live in Northern climates who want to spend the winter in warmer destinations. A case for this Tourism 2.0 was presented in this previous blog-commentary.

Imagine this vision of a Caribbean future. Instead of Late September/October being the slow season for tourism, it could be the peak “Travel South Season”. See the photo here; imagine island-hopping on ferries to get to a tropical destination.

This is the business model envisioned in the Go Lean book. It asserts that with the right guidance, investments and the adoption of best practices that the Caribbean region can give refuge to these northern snowbirds for the winter, and profit our communities at the same time. One required investment would be the network of island-hopping ferries, as depicted here.

Imagine the scenario – in the VIDEO here – but a ferry of cars and RV’s (Recreation Vehicles) arriving in one Caribbean port after another:

VIDEO – RVing on the Gulf Coast Ferry System – https://youtu.be/XlTYa83EoTM
Published on Mar 6, 2013 – … On a recent trip from New Orleans, LA to Galveston Island, TX, both Google Maps and our GPS suggested that we drive inland, along interstate 10. Since we prefer to stay on more scenic local roads whenever possible (and we were also eager to take the RV on the ferry ride to Galveston Island) we stayed along the coast instead. As a bonus, we drove through peaceful and scenic marshland and got some views of the Gulf of Mexico as well.
While researching our route, we discovered that there would be an additional water crossing required, on the Cameron-Holly Beach ferry. We weren’t sure if a large motorhome would be able to make the crossing. Were large vehicles allowed? Was there a problem with low tide causing steep approach or departure angles? A little online research showed that it wouldn’t be a problem, although we’d recommend that anyone planning to follow this route check for any updates or changes to ferry policies or conditions. The Cameron-Holly Beach ferry trip is laughably short… only 1/4 mile and about 3 1/2 minutes. …
When we arrived in Port Bolivar, TX to catch the ferry to Galveston Island, we were pleased to find that the trip was free for all ages! During the crossing we saw dolphins riding in our bow wave and were lucky enough to catch one of them on video, as you can see. Next time you’re RVing along the Gulf Coast, get off the Interstate and head out onto the water. It’s a great way to travel by RV!

Consider the original blog-commentary here from April 11, 2014. It is being ENCORED for this first day of Autumn 2018:

============

Go Lean Commentary – Florida’s Snowbirds Chilly Welcome

To the Canadian Snowbirds, looking for warm climates and a warm welcome, we say:

“Be our guest”.

To the Caribbean Diaspora, living in Canada and other northern countries, we say:

“Come in from the cold”.

The book Go Lean…Caribbean aligns with the news story in the below article. While the US may be retracting the Welcome Mats from Canadian snowbirds, after 180 days, the islands of the Caribbean extend the invitation for them to pass the wintry months here. They are invited to bring their time, talent and treasuries; (according to the foregoing article: billions of dollars).

Need an extra month? No problem.
Need access to cutting-edge medical treatment? Got it.
Need protection from crime and harassment? Got you covered.
Need video communications to interact with Embassy and government officials? Sure thing.
Need access to your Canadian dollar bank accounts? No problem.

The source news article is embedded here as follows:

Title: “Congress protects America from Canadian pensioners”
Gulfport, Florida – A chore combining carpentry with diplomacy awaits Gordon Bennett, a retired Canadian soldier, after his move to a larger mobile home near Florida’s Gulf coast. As commander of an overseas post of the Royal Canadian Legion, he likes to fly his national flag from a handy palm tree. But as a respectful guest—one of about half a million Canadian “snowbirds” who own winter homes in Florida, using special visas good for a total of 180 days in any 12-month period—he knows to follow strict protocol when mounting his flags, or face complaints from American neighbours. His Canadian flag cannot be flown on its own but must be paired with the Stars and Stripes (though never on the same pole). The American flag may not be smaller or fly lower, and must be flown in the position of honour (the right, as you emerge from a doorway).

Mr. Bennett, a genial octogenarian, does not resent the fussing. In his winter home of Pinellas County—an unflashy region of mobile home parks, “senior living” complexes, golf courses and strip malls—the welcome is mostly warm for Canadian snowbirds, who pump billions of dollars into Florida’s economy each year. His post shares premises with the American Legion, and has introduced local veterans to Moose Milk, a lethal Canuck eggnog-variant involving maple syrup. He routinely brings 50 or 60 Canadians to ex-servicemen’s parades, picnics or dinner-dances.

But once issues of sovereignty are raised, America’s welcome can chill. Visa rules force Canadian pensioners to count each day after they cross the border, typically in late October. They are enforced ferociously: overstayers may be barred from re-entry for five years. Some members of Congress have been trying to ease the rules for Canadian pensioners since the late 1990s. A law allowing Canadians over 55 to spend up to eight months in America each year, as long as they can show leases for property down south and do not work, passed the Senate in 2013 as part of a comprehensive immigration bill, but like the bigger bill, it has now stalled. In the House of Representatives an extension for Canadian snowbirds has been tucked into the JOLT Act, a tourism-promotion law introduced by Joe Heck, a Nevada Republican.

Canadian pensioners are not an obviously threatening group—few Americans report being mugged by elderly Ottawans armed with ice-hockey sticks. They pay property and sales taxes in America. They must cover their own health-care costs while down south, through the Canadian public health-care system and private top-up policies. If allowed to stay for eight months, most would stay only seven, predicts Dann Oliver, president of the Canadian Club of the Gulf Coast (staying longer would complicate their health cover and their tax status). They just want a few more weeks in the sun.

Yet even something this easy is proving hard. Mr. Heck is willing to tweak his bill to focus on two reforms: the Canadian extension and visa interviews by video-conference for Chinese, Brazilian and Indian would-be visitors, who currently face long journeys to American consulates. But many members of the House “are reluctant to do anything with the word immigration in it,” says Mr. Heck. Optimists hope the bill might come up for a vote this year. For Mr. Bennett and his wife, Evelyn, Canadians whose “bones ache” in their homeland’s cold, it can’t come too soon.
Source: The Economist (Retrieved 03/08/2014) –http://www.economist.com/news/united-states/21598680-congress-protects-america-canadian-pensioners-chilly-welcome

The book, Go Lean…Caribbean, serves as a roadmap for the implementation of the Caribbean Union Trade Federation (CU) over a 5 year period. The book posits that tourism products can be further extended to attract, accommodate and harvest the market of Snowbirds. These ones bring more than they take, and therefore should be viewed as low-hanging fruit for tourism’s economic harvest. While some CU member-states may target a High-Net-Worth clientele, there is room too for the hordes of retirees who may seek more modest accommodations. In the end, billions of dollars of economic output from the Snowbird market are still … billions of dollars.

From the outset, the book defined that the purpose of the CU is to optimize economic, security and governing engines to impact Caribbean society, for residents and visitors. This was pronounced in Verse IV (Page 11) of the opening Declaration of Interdependence:

Whereas the natural formation of the landmass is in a tropical region, the flora and fauna allows for an inherent beauty that is enviable to peoples near and far. The structures must be strenuously guarded to protect and promote sustainable systems of commerce paramount to this reality.

In line with the foregoing article, the Go Lean book details some applicable infrastructure enhancements and advocacies to facilitate more Snowbird traffic:

Ferries – Union Atlantic Turnpike (Page 205)
Self-Governing Entities/Fairgrounds (Pages 105, 192)
Optimized Medical Deliveries (Page 156)
Marshalling Economic Crimes (Page 178)
Improve Elder-Care (Page 239)

The purpose of this roadmap is to make the Caribbean, a better place to live, work and play; for snowbirds too! This way we can benefit from their presence.

Download the book Go Lean … Caribbean – now!

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Model, Tourism, Transform

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Caribbean Unity? What a Joke – Tourism Missteps

Posted on August 23, 2018 in Government, Strategy, Tactical

Go Lean Commentary

A house divided against itself, cannot stand. – 16^th US President Abraham Lincoln

This Dead President – the Savior of the American Union – is right! A homeland cannot have unity, harmony or leverage if it is divided.

Being divided, things go from “bad to worse”.

For the Caribbean, despite the 30 different member-states, it is really just one house; we are all in the “same boat”, so then, we can think of it as the same “house boat”. 🙂

As a region, we are divided!

Why are we so dysfunctional in this regard?

One clue: Lack of war.

Wait, what?!

Yes, the opening comment by President Lincoln was uttered in the build-up to that country’s Civil War. In addition, the model that the Caribbean should be emulating, that of the European Union, was only possible after all the devastation and losses of World War II. Yes, this is a human reality:

Only at the precipice do people change.

This commentary declares that despite a lack of war, our Caribbean region is at “the precipice”. We have already suffered disasters, abandonment, insolvency and corruption. The only thing we have been spared, compared to other communities that were forced to unite, is the “blood on the streets”. (Though there are some that assess our uncontrollable crime problem as “blood on the streets”). So why have we not succeeded in any unification movement?

We have tried, but we only have failure to show for our efforts.

This is the focus of this series of commentaries on Caribbean unity – make that disunity. This first one – entry 1 of 4 in this series from the movement behind the book Go Lean … Caribbean – is in consideration of the “misstep” in our societal attitudes – defects – that prevents us from collaborating and partnering together. We do not reform nor transform like other communities; we do not confederate nor consolidate; we somehow think that we are better than our neighbors and can survive alone – “Its Better in … ”

The commentaries in the series are cataloged as follows:

Caribbean Unity? What a joke – Tourism Missteps
Caribbean Unity? – Ross University Saga
Caribbean Unity? – No Freedom of Movement in/out of French Antilles
Caribbean Unity? – Religion’s Role: False Friend

All of these commentaries relate to “how” the stewards for a new Caribbean can shepherd unity in this region. But first we must accept that Caribbean Unity is a joke.

Ask anyone! Most people do not even realize that the full Caribbean region is 42 million people. Why is this surprising?

There is no unity!

Our primary outreach to the world – tourism – is a competition among the islands, rather than a collaboration. The fastest growing segment of Caribbean tourism is the cruise industry; and they are banking on our disunity, playing one port-of-call against another – to our peril. This charge of disunity is not just our movement’s complaint alone; no, even many government leaders lament this actuality. Consider here, this news article which asserts the same premise:

Title: Tourism can bring Caribbean together
Press Release:– Tourism has enormous potential to promote Caribbean regional integration. So said Jamaica’s Tourism Minister, Edmund Bartlett who, at the time, was addressing the 54th annual general meeting of the St. Lucia Hotel & Tourism Association, which was held Friday (June 20) at Harbour Club St. Lucia. He was the featured guest speaker at the AGM.

“The Caribbean is the most tourism-dependent region in the world,” said Bartlett, adding, “The sector generates investments and jobs for all the islands and supports overall economic growth through critical sectoral linkages. The tourism sector, by its very nature, also promotes some of the main values of regional integration as tourism involves the close contact and interaction of millions of individuals from diverse cultural, ethnic, racial, socio-economic and national backgrounds working together for mutually-beneficial exchanges.’

Describing the tourism sector in the Caribbean as “cutting across many spheres, sectors and boundaries,” Bartlett characterized the sector as “a shared model of development for the region,” and one that shares a special place among Caribbean states.

“The sector thus provides considerable scope for collaboration and cooperation among many stakeholders at the regional level in a wide range of areas including; investment and product development, human resource development, tourism awareness, research and statistics, access and transportation, regional facilitation, environmental and cultural sustainability, marketing, communications and addressing crime that involves visitors,” said Jamaica’s tourism minister.

Bartlett buttressed his assertion by noting that CARICOM leaders attending the 29th Inter-Sessional Meeting of the Conference of Heads of Government of CARICOM held at Port-au-Prince, Haiti in February 2018 had acknowledged tourism as the Caribbean’s largest economic sector and declared that it needs to be “stimulated urgently and sustainably for the region’s long-term development prospects.”

Bartlett further noted that at the 39th CARICOM Heads of Government meeting held in Jamaica July 2, the regional leaders in attendance reaffirmed their commitment to the effective implementation of the CSME, which is aimed at facilitating the expansion of investment and trade in goods and services, and the free movement of people across the region.

“Tourism is also a catalyst for promoting the successful implementation of the Caribbean Single Market and Economy (CSME) framework which has been the leading initiative developed by CARICOM to promote regional integration,” he added.

Moreover, tourism could become a catalyst for increased intra-regional travel and a value-added component to diversify the region’s tourism product and spread the benefits of tourism across the region, said Bartlett. “Intra-regional tourism provides vast economic exchange and opportunities for the regional economy that would have otherwise gone to countries such as the USA, Canada and England. This form of inward-looking tourism is also a very practical approach to reversing the over-dependence of the region’s tourism sector on international markets,” Bartlett added.

Citing the recent signing of the Multi-lateral Air Services Agreement (MASA) by CARICOM heads as one of the region’s most noted successes in the promotion of intra-regional tourism, Bartlett said it could help to make travelling within and beyond the Caribbean much easier. The MASA is aimed at creating a liberalized environment that is consistent with emerging WTO aviation policies.

“It is anticipated that the full implementation of MASA will improve connectivity and facilitate increased trade in goods and services, including tourism. MASA has been expanded to include the conditions for a single security check for direct transit passengers on multi-stop intra-Community flights,” said Bartlett.

In addition, he said the Caribbean Tourism Organization’s (CTO) aviation task force is currently working with intra-Caribbean carriers to ensure hassle-free movement and to boost connectivity around the region.

These include legal and regulatory concerns, safety and security issues, taxation and the high cost of airline tickets and the passenger’s experience, which involves persons requiring a visa to travel,” said Bartlett.

He suggested the development of a regional tourism rating or classification scheme as yet another way of deepening regional integration through tourism and enhancing the visitor experience, provided common standards and criteria could be agreed upon and the scheme is furnished with adequate resources and managed effectively and impartially

“Such a scheme could ensure a level of quality assurance for visitors and stimulate product and service quality improvement through the objective benchmarking of visitor facilities and service standards,” said Bartlett.

Bartlett also envisions the “economic convergence between complimentary economies” in the Caribbean through tourism as another way of deepening regional economic integration, citing this as an emergent perspective in the region.

“The suggestion was that there were better opportunities for growth through a more rational approach to economic integration between geographically proximate, complementary economies linked to much-improved transport infrastructure. This was not meant to replace CARICOM but to be a new route to economic convergence in the Caribbean basin.”

Bartlett acknowledged, however, that there are a number of obstacles that must be overcome in the quest to establish a sustainable regional tourism sector.

“It is no secret that there remain several impediments to the development of a sustainable regional tourism sector, including: the general lack of emphasis and promotion of intra-regional tourism at national levels, the prohibitive cost of intra-regional travel, continued restrictions to free movement and insufficient harmonization and coordination in the area of disaster risk management.”

The Caribbean’s vulnerability to climate change constitute another of the threats” to the region’s tourism sector, said Bartlett, stressing that these issues necessitate sophisticated resilience mechanisms and crisis management systems.

“Indeed, it was this spirit of regional cooperation that led to the recent conceptualization of the Caribbean Disaster Resilience Centre, the first of its kind in the region, which will be established at the University of the West Indies Mona,” he added.

Bartlett concluded by urging the Caribbean states to work together in order to take full advantage of tourism’s vast untapped potential to promote the sustainable development of the region.

“We must thus find common ground on a number of issues and strengthen our cooperation in a number of shared areas to ensure that tourism development truly brings us together,” he added.

Several government officials attended the SLHTA AGM, including Prime Minister Allen Chastanet, Minister for Tourism, Dominic Fedee, Minister for Agriculture, Ezechiel Joseph, Minister for Infrastructure, Stephenson King, Minister for Home Affairs, Hermangild Francis, and Minister for Health and Wellness Mary Isaac. Also present were Mayor of Castries, Peterson Francis, Parliamentary Representative for Castries South, Ernest Hilaire, several private sector executives and members of the diplomatic corps.

— END Press Release

About the Saint Lucia Hotel and Tourism Association (SLHTA)
The Saint Lucia Hotel and Tourism Association (SLHTA) is a private non-profit membership organization [that provides sound and dynamic leadership for its members; it functions as the principal intermediary for tourism service providers and an influential lobby for tourism development issues].

Source: Posted July 31, 2018; retrieved August 22, 2018 from: https://stluciatimes.com/2018/07/31/tourism-can-bring-caribbean-together/

As related in the foregoing, these words by the Jamaica Tourism Minister ring loud:

“The tourism sector … promotes some of the main values of regional integration”

What a joke!

Don’t get it twisted! There is no Caribbean integration. We all think there should be; but we all acknowledge that such a construct does not exist. This fact has been proclaimed time and again by the movement behind the book Go Lean…Caribbean – available to download for free. Just recently, this previous blog-commentary asserted the need to unite after natural disasters:

… this is a matter of image and geographic misconceptions, more so than it is about disasters or even tourism. The world is telling the Caribbean: Better band together to assuage your challenges. We are united in affliction, we might as well be united in solutions. Yes, it is no longer optional for our region to confederate as a Single Market.

Confederation is not a bad thing!
…

Tourism is the current dominant industry; the goal is to “stand on the shoulders” of previous accomplishments, add infrastructure not possible by just one member-state alone and then reap the benefits. Imagine this manifestation in just this one new strategy: inter-island ferries that connect all islands for people, cars and goods.

The movement behind the book Go Lean … Caribbean seeks to reboot the economic engines of the Caribbean member-states. So while tourism is the region’s primary economic driver, the status quo is inadequate for providing the needs of the people in the region, and inadequate for dealing with the challenges of nation-building. We must do better! We must collaborate and not compete.

The Go Lean book serves as a roadmap for the introduction and implementation of the Caribbean Union Trade Federation (CU). The CU is designed to be a technocratic intergovernmental entity that shepherds economic growth for the full Caribbean region and mitigate against related security challenges. The goal is to use this new regional focus to reboot and optimize the region’s commerce or economics; plus the aligning security and governing engines.

The Go Lean/CU roadmap will employ strategies, tactics and implementations to impact its prime directives; identified with the following 3 statements:

Optimization of the economic engines in order to grow the regional economy to $800 Billion & create 2.2 million new jobs.
Establishment of a security apparatus to ensure public safety and protect the resultant economic engines.
Improvement of Caribbean governance to support these engines, including a separation-of-powers between the member-states and CU federal agencies, as in a “Commerce Department” and Self-Governing Entities.

The Go Lean book provides 370-pages of turn-by-turn instructions on “how” to adopt new community ethos, plus the strategies, tactics, implementations and advocacies to execute so as to elevate the Caribbean’s tourism product, across the full region. The book features anecdotes and Case Studies assessing the integration among Caribbean member-states, or the lack there of. One anecdote introduces the non-government organization (NGO), the Caribbean Hotel & Tourism Association and their plea for integration strategies. See this except from that anecdote in the book (Page 60):

Anecdote # 9 – Caribbean Strategy: Hotel & Tourism Association

Hotel Association urges Caribbean governments to take action…
By Caribbean News Now – Published on August 31, 2010 MONTEGO BAY, Jamaica — Caribbean Hotel and Tourism Association President Josef Forstmayr has called for urgent action by all Caribbean governments for a sustainable cooperative marketing and promotion fund and regional integration and removal of barriers for intra-Caribbean travel. …..Forstmayr also quoted Robert Crandall, former Chairman of American Airlines, who remarked at the annual Caribbean Hotel and Tourism Investment Conference (CHTIC) in May [2010] with, “The Caribbean is uniquely dependent on tourism. Everyone involved in travel and tourism knows that our industry is immensely important to the world economy, generating and supporting – either directly or indirectly – about one in eleven jobs worldwide.”

Here in the Caribbean, it is even more important. On a number of islands, travel and tourism accounts for more than 50% of all employment, and on some islands for more than 75%. Overall, about 20% of Caribbean employment is travel and tourism dependent – something on the order of 2.5 million jobs.”

Crandall also urged that “travel and tourism should be at the center of our collective consciousness since the Caribbean is more dependent on travel and tourism than almost any other region. Of the 10 countries in the world most dependent on tourism, seven are in the Caribbean.” …

.
[Forstmayr] noted that American Airlines’ Robert Crandall “told us that 18 years ago in 1992, at a meeting held in Kingston, the Caribbean heads of government agreed to collaborate in a partnership with the private sector to organize and sustain – the key word is sustain – a regional marketing fund. However, despite substantial private sector contributions from CHTA and our members in 1993 which resulted in a regional advertising program and a 10.4% increase in visitor traffic to the Caribbean, governments cannot agree on a sustainable funding mechanism for a regional marketing program now.”

A tactic the book seeks to optimize is the promotion of the regional tourism product – think; island hopping (see Appendix), universal customs clearance, foreign gateway airports – by enabling such a promotion-administration role-responsibility into a Cabinet level department. This is described in the book as follows on Page 88 with the section title:

D. Commerce Department

D1 – Tourism and Film Promotion and Administration
This department will work in conjunction with the Tourism Promotion arms of each member states (not exclusive); the same too with film, video, and media productions. There is the opportunity to exploit regional tourism efforts like cruise ships, conventions, island hopping, foreign gateway airports, and excess inventory marketing. This agency will also spearhead a Regional Language Translation 24-hour Call Center to accommodate the needs for any foreign visitors in the region.

Imagine island hopping like this – see Appendix VIDEO …

… flying into one Caribbean airport – i.e. St. Martin in the Leeward Islands or Montego Bay in Jamaica – and receiving a “Customs Clearing” for all 30 Caribbean member-states. Wow! This is Free Movement of People, a benefit of a Single Market.

The Go Lean book explains that there is the need for better stewardship of the economic engines on these touristic islands. There are obvious challenges to being on an island – it is what it is! Optimizing island life was an original intent of the Go Lean roadmap. The opening Declaration of Interdependence stresses this (Page 11) with these pronouncements:

iii. Whereas the natural formation of the landmass for our society is that of an archipelago of islands, inherent to this nature is the limitation of terrain and the natural resources there in. We must therefore provide “new guards” and protections to ensure the efficient and effective management of these resources.

iv. Whereas the natural formation of the landmass is in a tropical region, the flora and fauna allows for an inherent beauty that is enviable to peoples near and far. The structures must be strenuously guarded to protect and promote sustainable systems of commerce paramount to this reality.

vi. Whereas the finite nature of the landmass of our lands limits the populations and markets of commerce, by extending the bonds of brotherhood to our geographic neighbors allows for extended opportunities and better execution of the kinetics of our economies through trade. This regional focus must foster and promote diverse economic stimuli.

The Go Lean movement has previously detailed many related issues and advocacies for regional tourism promotion and administration. Consider this sample of previous blog-commentaries:

https://goleancaribbean.com/blog/?p=15380	Industrial Reboot – Cruise Tourism 2.0 – Offering a Glimpse
https://goleancaribbean.com/blog/?p=15378	Industrial Reboot – Regional Tourism 2.0 – Middle Markets Targets
https://goleancaribbean.com/blog/?p=15376	Industrial Reboot – Culture 101 – Tourism & Culture “Together”
https://goleancaribbean.com/blog/?p=15374	Industrial Reboot – Lottery 101 – A local Raffle could be Win-Win!
https://goleancaribbean.com/blog/?p=15059	Regional Tourism Coordination – No Longer Optional
https://goleancaribbean.com/blog/?p=14989	Regional Tourism Plan: Attract more Snowbirds
https://goleancaribbean.com/blog/?p=14767	The Need for Better Stewardship for Caribbean Air Travel
https://goleancaribbean.com/blog/?p=13700	Increasing Tourism Market Share
https://goleancaribbean.com/blog/?p=12668	Lessons from Colorado: Common Sense of Eco-Tourism
https://goleancaribbean.com/blog/?p=11224	Loose Lips Sink Ships – The Dangers to Tourism from Hate Speech
https://goleancaribbean.com/blog/?p=6341	What’s Next for Tourism Stewardship
https://goleancaribbean.com/blog/?p=5307	Being On Guard for Violent Threats to Tourists
https://goleancaribbean.com/blog/?p=5210	Cruise Ship Commerce – Getting Ready for Change
https://goleancaribbean.com/blog/?p=2750	Disney World – A Role Model for Touristic Self-Governing Entities
https://goleancaribbean.com/blog/?p=2571	Preparing for the Sharing Economy –vs- Hotel Rooms
https://goleancaribbean.com/blog/?p=235	Tourism’s Changing Profile

The Caribbean has a problem. So many of our people flee their beloved homelands. The reasons they leave are defined as both “push” and “pull”. Pull refers to the perception that there are better economic opportunities abroad, so our citizens are lured or pulled to make a living elsewhere.

The reasons people leave is not just because “they are pulled”. Sometimes, they are pushed as well. This refers to our people fleeing in search of refuge. Economic refuge is perhaps the largest reasons why our citizens have abandoned their beloved homelands – a 70 percent brain drain rate has been reported among the professional classes. Since the economics of the region is principally based on tourism, we understand this cause-and-effect. Yes, for a primary industry, we sure do have a lot of defects in our business model. We have a “divided house” and the divisions are evident and obvious.

We must do better! We must start by working together … with our fellow Caribbean neighbors. We must collaborate and cooperate, not just compete. This is our only hope for future survival. Plus, we have role models in history to emulate; (US Civil War & Post-WWII Europe).

So we must reform and transform the Caribbean’s societal engines so as to elevate our tourism product. The simple functions of a regional tourist packages/customs clearance is not “a bridge too far”. Yes, we can!

This is the quest of the Go Lean roadmap. These practical measures are conceivable, believable and achievable.

All Caribbean stakeholders – governments and citizens alike – are urged to lean-in to this roadmap for change … and empowerment. We can make our region a better place to live work and play. 🙂

Download the e-Book of Go Lean … Caribbean – now!

Sign the petition to lean-in for this roadmap for the Caribbean Union Trade Federation.

——————–

Appendix VIDEO – Island Hopping the Caribbean Islands: Aruba, Bonaire, Curacao Adventures – https://youtu.be/erlk8h4txV8

Marko Roth // World Traveller
Published on Jul 8, 2016 – Explore the mind blowing beauty of the Caribbean! The crystal clear waters with dolphins and turtles, the island hopping to Aruba, Bonaire and Curacao in small airplanes and the friendly locals made our time in the Caribbean worthwhile. We went scuba diving with dolphins, went sailing in the blue ocean and explored stunning caves. Read the full story on http://www.markoroth.com/caribbean-ab…

Check out all the details of our adventure on http://www.forthatmoment.de/2016/04/2…

Category: Travel & Events

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CariCom, Jamaica, Tourism, Transform

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Industrial Reboot – Cruise Tourism 2.0 – ENCORE

Posted on July 30, 2018 in Economics, Government, Industries, Social, Strategy

“If you can’t beat ’em, join ’em”

Tourism in the Caribbean has been impacted by the disrupting eco-system of Cruise ships. More and more visitors shift from stay-overs – flying in on a jet and taking it slow at a resort hotel – to consuming the Caribbean ports-of-call on cruise ships. This is not all good; there are some dire consequences. The economic engines are all in shambles because of this shift. The result is less economic impact to the local markets.

When a cruise ship arrives in port, over 4,000 passengers disembark – they are the 800-pound Gorilla – their presence is felt; the ship cannot be ignored and cannot be dismissed …

… we cannot beat this industrial giant, so we have to join them [… then beat them].

This “joining-beating” refers to an Industrial Reboot. Yes, as a region, we must first stop the bleeding, then reboot our industrial landscape so as to explore the opportunities associated with Cruise Tourism.

What? How? Why?

Rebooting the industrial landscape means understanding the macro-economic factors affecting a community and then applying changes to assuage negative developments and to exploit the positives. This 800-pound Gorilla is hard to “beat” alone, each Caribbean country will have to collectively-bargain with the Cruise industry – along with the other Caribbean countries – to have any hope of negotiating for changes to this industrial landscape.

This thought is what was related in a previous blog-commentary, from May 6, 2015, by the movement behind the book Go Lean…Caribbean:

The book … opens with the thesis (Page 3) that the problems of the Caribbean are too big for any one member-state to tackle alone. Some of the most popular cruise destinations include the Bahamas, Jamaica, Cayman Islands and Saint Martin. Alone, these port cities/member states cannot effect change on this cruise line industry. But together, as one unified front, the chances for success improves exponentially. The unified front is the Caribbean Union Trade Federation (CU). The term Union is more than a coincidence; it was branded as such by design. The Go Lean book serves as a roadmap for the introduction and implementation of the CU.

The vision of this integration movement is for the region to function as a Single Market. …

The book Go Lean…Caribbean asserts that we cannot just maintain the status quo – 1.0 – with Cruise Tourism. The port-city merchants are not happy; the rest of the tourism landscape is not happy; the passengers are not happy; and the cruise line employees are not happy. The book relates:

The Bottom Line for the Caribbean Cruise Industry
The Caribbean is the number one (1) destination for the cruise line industry, with some 10 million passengers a year and an annual growth of 7.4% since 1980. But each cruise line serves multiple ports and so can play one market against the other. They are the “800 pound gorilla that can sleep wherever it chooses”. The cruise line industry “squeezes every bit of copper out of a penny”, challenging their stakeholders to optimize their business model more and more every year – they maximize revenues from the marketplace and minimize their spending. And yet, without the Caribbean as a whole, their product is far less appealing. – Page 193

The only people that are happy with cruise operations are the shareholders of the cruise lines. (It is doubtful that many of these one would be Caribbean stakeholders). The Cruise Tourism 1.0 business model needs to transform to 2.0.

This Go Lean book presents a roadmap to elevate the economic engines in Caribbean society; it details new strategies, tactics and implementations to reboot the Cruise Tourism eco-system. One tactic is to deploy a scheme for Passenger Payment Cards (smartcards or smart-phone applications) that function on the ships and at the port cities. This scheme will also employ NFC technology (Near Field Communications) – so as to glean the additional security benefits of shielding private financial data of the guest and passengers.

Another tactic is to double-down on Culture! We would want to overwhelm cruise passengers with our unique culture. Under 1.0, these passengers only consume a port-city for portions of 1 day. So we need to fill the port-side harbors, courtyards and verandas with so much locally-produced cultural expressions; think: art, parades, dance, song, storytelling, souvenirs …

… modeling Walt Disney World’s 4 Parks and their afternoon character parades …

… we must overload our guests-passengers so that they feel underserved by the cruise experience, and would prefer a fuller experience. Cruises should be likened to Movie Trailers: “Previews of Coming Attractions”.

This new technological, cultural and economic scheme will usher in change for Cruise Commerce. The Go Lean book projects that 800 new direct jobs can be created just with the proposed Cruise Passenger Payment Card. (Even more indirect jobs – 3.75-to-1 multiplier rate – can be created). This is how the industrial landscape of the Caribbean region can be rebooted, by starting with this mandatory smartcard/chip-card for every cruise passenger.

For this month of July 2018, the phraseology “reboot” has been a consistent theme. This commentary has previously identified a number of different industries that can be rebooted under this Go Lean roadmap. See the list of previous submissions on Industrial Reboots here:

Industrial Reboots – Ferries 101 – Published June 27, 2017
Industrial Reboots – Prisons 101 – Published October 4, 2017
Industrial Reboots – Pipeline 101 – Published October 5, 2017
Industrial Reboots – Frozen Foods 101 – Published October 6, 2017
Industrial Reboots – Call Centers 101 – Published July 2, 2018
Industrial Reboots – Prefab Housing 101 – Published July 14, 2018
Industrial Reboots – Trauma 101 – Published July 18, 2018
Industrial Reboots – Auto-making 101 – Published July 19, 2018
Industrial Reboots – Shipbuilding 101 – Published July 20, 2018
Industrial Reboots – Fisheries 101 – Published July 23, 2018
Industrial Reboots – Lottery 101 – Published July 24, 2018
Industrial Reboots – Culture 101 – Published July 25, 2018
Industrial Reboots – Tourism 2.0 – Published July 27, 2018
Industrial Reboots – Cruise Tourism 2.0 – Published Today – July 30, 2018

This 14th (and final) submission to the commentary considers the basics of economic stewardship (financial payments, collective bargaining and labor relations) for the Cruise Tourism industry and how it can harness many jobs if we reboot our industrial landscape to optimize the industry. There is no need for a new commentary; this subject had already been elaborated upon previously. See here the highlights of these two Encores of Go Lean commentaries:

“RBC EZPay – Ready for Change” from January 23, 2015
“Cruise Ship Commerce – Getting Ready for Change” from May 6, 2015

See the Encores here:

————————-

1. Go Lean Commentary – RBC EZPay – Ready for Change

It’s time to introduce the Caribbean Dollar (C$) as a regional currency. Though there will be coins and notes, the primary focus will be on electronic transactions. This is the future!

Electronic Payments schemes (card-based & internet) are very important in the strategy to elevate the Caribbean economy, bring change and empower people, process and profits.

According to the subsequent news article, the regional banks – in this case the Royal Bank of Canada (RBC) – are ready for this change.
…

This Go Lean/CU/CCB roadmap looks to employ electronic payments schemes to impact the growth of the regional economy. There are two CU schemes that relate to this foregoing news story, as they require the demonstrated POS terminals:

Cruise Passenger Smartcards – The Go Lean roadmap posits that the cruise industry needs the Caribbean more than the Caribbean needs the industry. But the cruise lines have embedded rules/regulations designed to maximize their revenues at the expense of the port-side establishments. The CU solution is to deploy a scheme for smartcards that function on the ships and at the port cities.
e-Commerce Facilitation – The Go Lean roadmap defines that the Caribbean Dollar (C$) will be mostly cashless, an accounting currency. So the Caribbean Central Bank (CCB) will settle all C$ electronic transactions (MasterCard-Visa style or ACH style) and charge interchange/clearance fees. This scheme allows for the emergence of full-throttle e-Commerce activities.

The focus of these schemes is not technology, its economics. These electronic payments provide the impetus for M1, the economic measurement of currency/money in circulation (M0) plus overnight bank deposits. As M1 values increase, there is a dynamic to create money “from thin-air”, called the money multiplier. The more money in the system, the more liquidity for investment and industrial expansion opportunities.
…
See the full blog-commentary here.

————————-

2. Go Lean Commentary – Cruise Ship Commerce – Getting Ready for Change

…

This is the focus of this commentary and advocacy. There are strict divisions of labor on cruise ships – wait staff and cabin stewards are reserved for citizens from Third World countries like the Caribbean and Asia – with terrible pay scales – while the officers/leadership roles are reserved for Europeans-only – Scandinavians proliferate. We appreciate the fact they set aside jobs for people of the Caribbean, but it is unacceptable that job advancements are unattainable. The resultant discrimination is real. Cruise ships, and other maritime vessels in general, are the last bastion of segregation. Descriptors like “modern-day-slavery”, “sweatships” and “extreme poverty” are far too common. Case in point, many ship-domestic staff are “tip earners”, paid only about US$50 a month and expected to survive on the generosity of the passengers’ gratuity.
…
This is a human resource matter and thusly will be within the sphere of influence for the new HR executive at [Royal Caribbean Cruise Lines or] RCL. While many ships are only governed by maritime laws, injustice is injustice. Good shepherding of Caribbean economic eco-system requires some focus to these bad practices.
…
The confederacy goal entails accepting that there is interdependence among the Caribbean member-states. Implementation-wise, this shifts the responsibility for cruise line negotiations to a region-wide, professionally-managed, deputized technocracy that can result in greater production and greater accountability.

An advocacy, in this case collective bargaining, on behalf of the oppressed workers in Caribbean waters is a just and honorable cause. The quest of this Go Lean movement is to make the Caribbean region better to live, work and play. Labor practices on cruise ships are therefore within scope of the CU.

This is the change … that now confronts the new RCL HR executive. But the CU quest to elevate Caribbean society should not run afoul of this or any cruise line’s modus operandii. The CU sets out to be their trading partner, not adversarial opponent. This should be win-win.
…
See the full blog-commentary here.

————-

Download the free e-Book of Go Lean … Caribbean – now!

Sign the petition to lean-in for this roadmap for the Caribbean Union Trade Federation.

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Arts, Cruise, Jobs, Tourism, Transform

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Industrial Reboot – Tourism 2.0

Posted on July 27, 2018 in Economics, Ethos, Industries, Strategy

Go Lean Commentary

“I would rather have 1 percent of 100 people than 100 percent of one person” – Famous Quotation

Think about this famous quotation; according to arithmetic, 100 X 1 = 1 X 100. The two sides of this equation amount to the same total. But strategy-wise, it is better for the “1 percent of 100 people”.

Why?

It is far easier to get people to elevate from 1 percent to contribute more – think 2 percent – but impossible to get a person to give more than 100 percent. So with a little effort, our formula can total to 200 (100 X 2). Maybe even more …

This is the strategy being proposed to reboot the industrial landscape of tourism for the Caribbean. The strategy employed by the 30 member-states is that they want “High Net Worth” tourists. The price point during the peak season are easily $500 per night at resort hotels. The flaw of this strategy is that the target population who can consume those prices is limited. This is Caribbean Tourism 1.0.

Caribbean Tourism 2.0 assumes that we can offer a great visitor experience to more people – middle class and working class – for lower prices. (See Appendix VIDEO). Imagine 5 beds rented for $100 per night. While the grand totals may be the same (1 X $500 = 5 X $100), the 2.0 approach creates a lot more economic spin-off opportunities than the 1.0 approach. 5 people, for example, eat more than 1 person; drink more rum; smoke more cigars; acquire more souvenirs; take more tours, etc.

We have many successful role models to consider. Think:

Orlando, Florida who hosts Disney World and Universal Studios – enjoys 75 million tourists each year.
The tiny town of Sturgis, South Dakota annually hosts an 10-day event with over 500,000 attendees.

The book Go Lean … Caribbean asserts that the Caribbean industrial landscape must be reformed and transformed. Our Caribbean economic landscape is in shambles! Tourism is currently our primary economic driver in the region, and it is under assault; more and more visitors shift from stay-overs to cruise arrivals. Cruise packages are much cheaper than stay-overs – see photos here:

——————– Hotel Options ——————

———- Cruise Options (same dates) ———–

While cruises may be easier on the wallet, they are harder on our Caribbean economy. Having less tourist-stay-overs means less economic impact to the local markets – hotels, restaurants, taxis, souvenir retail sales, etc.. Jobs are at stake!

This cannot be ignored! As a region, we must reboot our industrial landscape and add more job-creating options.

The book Go Lean…Caribbean – available to download for free – serves as a roadmap for the introduction and implementation of the technocratic Caribbean Union Trade Federation (CU); this is a confederation of all 30 member-states to execute a reboot of the Caribbean economic eco-system. The quest is to introduce best-practices so as to optimize the economic engines in the local communities.

On the surface, a strategy to trade services based on the Caribbean’s assets of sun, sand, surf and sea is not a BAD approach. The problem was embedded when the stakeholders developed a lazy attitude towards the delivery of such services. The stewards of the tourism product preferred to cater to the few “High Net Worth” individuals rather than the masses. They opted to get $100 from 1 person, rather than $1 from 100 people.

Unfair criticism?

Just notice the bad practices with air travel out of Caribbean airports – the taxes are more than the airfare.

This is the wrong community ethos; defined as:

“the fundamental character or spirit of a culture; the underlying sentiment that informs the beliefs, customs, or practices of a group or society; dominant assumptions of a people or period” – Go Lean book Page 20

A change to the community ethos is the first advocacy of this new Reboot Tourism 2.0 endeavor. This “High Net Worth” first strategy is simply not working! The economic returns of the tourism status quo is simply not there!

Our cupboards are bare!

There are many more advocacies … depicted in the CU/Go Lean roadmap! In fact, the roadmap has these 3 prime directives:

Optimization of the economic engines in order to grow the regional economy to $800 Billion & create 2.2 million new jobs.
Establishment of a security apparatus to ensure public safety and protect the resultant economic engines.
Improvement of Caribbean governance to support these engines, including a separation-of-powers between the member-states and CU federal agencies.

Rather than lazy; it is time for heavy-lifting. The Go Lean book stresses that reforming and transforming Caribbean tourism and the relevant local economic engines may be Too Big a burden for just one member-state alone; it must be a regional pursuit. This was an early motivation for the roadmap, as pronounced in the opening Declaration of Interdependence (Pages 11 – 13):

iv. Whereas the natural formation of the landmass is in a tropical region, the flora and fauna allows for an inherent beauty that is enviable to peoples near and far. The structures must be strenuously guarded to protect and promote sustainable systems of commerce paramount to this reality.

vi. Whereas the finite nature of the landmass of our lands limits the populations and markets of commerce, by extending the bonds of brotherhood to our geographic neighbors allows for extended opportunities and better execution of the kinetics of our economies through trade. This regional focus must foster and promote diverse economic stimuli.

xxiv. Whereas a free market economy can be induced and spurred for continuous progress, the Federation must install the controls to better manage aspects of the economy: jobs, inflation, savings rate, investments and other economic principles. Thereby attracting direct foreign investment because of the stability and vibrancy of our economy.

xxvi. Whereas the Caribbean region must have new jobs to empower the engines of the economy and create the income sources for prosperity, and encourage the next generation to forge their dreams right at home, the Federation must therefore foster the development of new industries, like that of ship-building, automobile manufacturing, prefabricated housing, frozen foods, pipelines, call centers, and the prison industrial complex. In addition, the Federation must invigorate the enterprises related to existing industries like tourism, fisheries and lotteries – impacting the region with more jobs.

This is what this CU/Go Lean roadmap has presented, a plan to …

foster the development of new industries
invigorate the enterprises related to existing industries like tourism

In fact, this commentary has previously identified a number of different industries that can be rebooted under this Go Lean roadmap. See the list of previous submissions on Industrial Reboots here:

Industrial Reboots – Ferries 101 – Published June 27, 2017
Industrial Reboots – Prisons 101 – Published October 4, 2017
Industrial Reboots – Pipeline 101 – Published October 5, 2017
Industrial Reboots – Frozen Foods 101 – Published October 6, 2017
Industrial Reboots – Call Centers 101 – Published July 2, 2018
Industrial Reboots – Prefab Housing 101 – Published July 14, 2018
Industrial Reboots – Trauma 101 – Published July 18, 2018
Industrial Reboots – Auto-making 101 – Published – July 19, 2018
Industrial Reboots – Shipbuilding 101 – Published – July 20, 2018
Industrial Reboots – Fisheries 101 – Published – July 23, 2018
Industrial Reboots – Lottery 101 – Published – July 24, 2018
Industrial Reboots – Culture 101 – Published – July 25, 2018
Industrial Reboots – Tourism 2.0 – Published Today – July 27, 2018

There is the need for an Industrial Reboot and we can apply this even in our Tourism offerings.

Do what we have always done; get what we have always got.

This is the urging of the movement behind the Go Lean book: Do something different! Apply different strategies, tactics and implementations to impact change to the tourism eco-system. We do not want to go backwards; forward only. So we want resort hotels to continue their business model and even improve upon it. But, we want to do more; to stand on the shoulders of all the current accomplishments – consider the possibility of doubling-down in our outreach to the Snowbirds market in the Appendix below – and reach ever greater heights.

How … do we accomplish this?

The Go Lean book provides 370-pages of turn-by-turn instructions on “how” to adopt new community ethos, plus the strategies, tactics, implementations and advocacies to execute so as to reboot, reform and transform the societal engines of Caribbean society, including All-Things-Economic. There is a lot of consideration in the book for optimizing tourism, travel and transport across the Caribbean region. Notice these treatments from the book, in order of appearance:

10 Ways to Improve Sharing (Page 35)
#9 – Bed & Breakfast (B&B) – Online & Mobile Reservations
The B&B industry has emerged from family sharing their homes with strangers to near-high end resort facilities. All in all, it is basically residences sharing their hospitality with guests. The CU will facilitate the mobile eco-systems for more Caribbean homes to share “beds and meals”, especially during the peaks of event tourism (festivals, carnivals, fairs).
10 Ways to Improve Trade (Page 128)
#8 – Tourism Enhancers
A mission of the CU is to enhance the tourism prospects for the region. The CU will deploy the resources to attract back the Diaspora to repatriate to the islands. This includes the health delivery systems. This opens more opportunity for new markets; retirement/snowbirds, medical tourists, event tourists, High-End (One Percent) & Celebrity marketing, etc..
10 Ways to Enhance Tourism in the Caribbean Region (Page 190)
#1 – Special Festival Events
Promote multi-day events in the style of Sturgis (Appendix J on Page 288), Coachella, and Milwaukee’s SummerFest. The CU will liberalize the loitering laws, allow for camping & car/van sleeping, public showers, food trucks, open canister for alcohol, etc. (Jamaica’s SunFest is a start). To facilitate traffic, jurisdictional governments should grant temporary motorcycle licenses and arranged for optimal shipping logistics.
10 Ways to Impact Events (Page 191)
#2 – Fairgrounds – Venues with Permanent and Temporary Facilities
The CU will operate Fairgrounds with the charter of promoting and facilitating events year round and harvesting the economic benefits, civic pride and personal self-actualization. The fairgrounds can host existing events, if local authorities need bigger-better facilities – though the CU will not solicit such events so as not to undermine the historical significance. The CU holds law enforcement jurisdiction over the fairgrounds and will deputize “Rangers” for security.
10 Ways to Promote Fairgrounds (Page 192)
#2 – Self-Governing Entities (SGE)
The vision of CU fairgrounds entail SGE’s for their administration. With the zoning and jurisdictional independence, similar to Disney World in Florida, direct foreign investments would be incentivized. Similar to industrial parks, these fair parks will be able to contemplate public works projects as long as the business model (future income) is viable. Funding can be provided by means of the regional capital markets: municipal bonds and stock issuance.
10 Ways to Market Southern California (Page 194)
#4 – Los Angeles County is one of the Richest Municipalities in the World
Some cities are magnets for ultra-high net worth (UHNW) individuals, and the cities with the most of this wealthy class average approximately one in 3,075 people. Los Angeles is second on the list for UHNW; Wall Street-infused New York City is first. In addition to the entertainment industry and media moguls, the city is also a shipping/trade hub. The CU member-states and the region as a whole should target tourism marketing to go where the money is.
10 Ways to Improve Transportation (Page 205)
#3 – Turnpike: Ferries
For the most part, the CU member-states are islands thereby allowing for a viable means of transportation via sea navigation. By deploying ferries, the CU facilitates passenger travel for business and leisure, (see model – Appendix IC on Page 280)

The Go Lean book asserts (Page 257) that many jobs can be forged, if we adopt a different community ethos – spirit of a culture that informs the beliefs, customs and practices – and seek to produce, not just consume. The book details this count:

Tourism – New markets, opening new opportunities and new traffic; sharing: 30,000

Events – Festivals and other event staff at CU Fairgrounds: 9,000

Fairgrounds – Direct maintenance/support jobs at CU Fairgrounds: 10,000

The Go Lean movement (book and blogs) prepares the Caribbean region for this new business model for Tourism 2.0. In addition to these new 49,000 industry jobs; there is also the reality of indirect jobs – unrelated service and attendant functions – at a 3.75 multiplier rate would add another 183,750 jobs.

This constitutes an industrial reboot … on an old economic engine.

The thought of new twists to enhance tourism is not new for this Go Lean roadmap; there have been a number of previous blog-commentaries by the Go Lean movement that referenced economic opportunities embedded in the new industrial footprint of hosting, catering and facilitating visitors to our region. See a sample list here:

https://goleancaribbean.com/blog/?p=13700	Increasing Tourism Market Share
https://goleancaribbean.com/blog/?p=12668	Lessons from Colorado: Common Sense of Eco-Tourism
https://goleancaribbean.com/blog/?p=11287	Creating a Sports Tourism Legacy in Pro-Surfing
https://goleancaribbean.com/blog/?p=11033	The Prospects of Medical Tourism – Dangers and Opportunities
https://goleancaribbean.com/blog/?p=6341	The Demand for New Tourism Stewardship
https://goleancaribbean.com/blog/?p=4145	The Prospects of Art-Monument-Heritage Tourism

In summary, our Caribbean tourism eco-system needs a reboot – we need to create more jobs and derive more value from our industrial investments. A better job-creation ability would help us to make our homeland a better place to live, work and play. Failures in this endeavor is one of the reasons why so many Caribbean citizens have abandoned their beloved homeland, to seek refuge some where else.

Imagine the shame of greeting a clerk or maid with a strong Caribbean accent at a hotel in some foreign country – they left to go work a tourism-based job abroad. So sad! We must create a new economic landscape by rebooting our old industrial landscape.

Yes, we can … reboot our tourism landscape to 2.0, and create new jobs – and other economic opportunities.

We urge all Caribbean stakeholders to lean-in to this roadmap for economic empowerment. This vision – of a brighter tourism landscape – is conceivable, believable and achievable. 🙂

Download the free e-Book of Go Lean … Caribbean – now!

Sign the petition to lean-in for this roadmap for the Caribbean Union Trade Federation.

————-

Appendix – The Bottom Line on Snowbirds

A snowbird is someone from the U.S. Northeast, U.S. Midwest, Pacific Northwest, or Canada who spends a large portion of winter in warmer locales such as California, Arizona, Florida, Texas, the Carolinas, or elsewhere along the Sun Belt region of the southern and southwest United States, Mexico, and areas of the Caribbean.

Snowbirds are typically retirees, and business owners who have a second home in a warmer location or whose business can be easily moved from place to place, such as flea market and swap meet vendors. Some snowbirds carry their homes with them, as [RV’s or] campers (mounted on bus or truck frames) or as boats following the east coast Intracoastal waterway. In the past snowbirds were frequently wealthy with independent income who maintained several seasonal residences and shifted residence with the seasons to avail themselves of the best time to be at each location; this custom has declined considerably due to changing patterns of taxation and the relative ease of long-distance travel compared with earlier times.

Many of these “snowbirds” also use their vacation time to declare permanent residency in low- or no-tax income tax states (where the tax bases are augmented by high tourism taxes), and claim lower non-resident income taxes in their home states. Canadian snowbirds usually make sure they retain residency in Canada in order to retain health benefits.
Source: Book Go Lean…Caribbean Page 190.

————-

Appendix VIDEO – How to Travel to the Caribbean CHEAP – https://youtu.be/xHCoBZw1Qt0

IrixGuy’s Adventure Channel
Published on Jun 25, 2016 – How to travel to the Caribbean affordably. This is how to travel to the Caribbean on a budget. I hope that you enjoy this video and please share with others! Be sure to check out my other Caribbean travel advice videos too! #Caribbean #travel #how-to

Filmed with http://goo.gl/AXHBdZ camera. Edited with the following equipment http://goo.gl/63pfsh. Contains royalty-free music from YouTube Content Creator Audio Library.

Category: Howto & Style

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Industrial Reboot – Lottery 101 – ENCORE

Posted on July 24, 2018 in Ethos, Industries, Social, Strategy

“Cannot get Muhammad to the mountain? Take the mountain to Muhammad.”

This vivid saying portrays the heavy-lifting involved with bringing two parties together. Sometimes, instead of bringing Party A to Place B, we have to bring Place B to Party A. This is the entire business model of the Pizza Delivery business. The end result is the same, a completed commercial transaction.

This same trend is happening in the Gaming (Gambling) industry. Rather than waiting for people to come to casinos, the gaming operators are bringing “games of chance” to the people, in alternate places where they might be. There is a consistent new practice around the North American sports landscape: bring Lottery-Raffle operations to Sports Fans – some sports teams are even selling 50/50 Raffle tickets online. This constitutes an industrial reboot!

Look at how this 50/50 Raffle program in Phoenix, Arizona is portrayed:

During each home game, the Arizona Diamondbacks Foundation draws a raffle ticket in which half of that night’s jackpot goes to one lucky fan and the other half benefits the Arizona Diamondbacks Foundation. The winner is announced at the end of the seventh inning and posted online at dbacks.com/5050raffle. FOX Sports Arizona will also promote during home game broadcasts to direct fans to purchase raffle tickets online, update the jackpot total and announce the winning ticket number on the “D-backs Live” post-game show.
Source: Retrieved July 24, 2018 from: https://www.foxsports.com/arizona/story/d-backs-50-50-raffle-tickets-now-available-online-for-purchase-by-television-audience-080717

Sometimes the purse gets VERY LARGE. Consider this example from Canada:

CFL fans hit record 50-50 jackpot worth $345K at Eskimos game
Two Canadian Football League fans claimed the largest 50-50 jackpot in North American sports history on Tuesday.

Quentin and Samantha Ebertz bought $20 worth of tickets for the sports raffle at Friday night’s Edmonton Eskimos game and walked away with a $345,160 ($435,919.50 Canadian) prize.

“It’s truly jaw-dropping and tax-free,” said Eskimos president and CEO Len Rhodes, referring to the fact that Canadian citizens don’t have to pay taxes on lottery winnings.
…
Source: Posted July 18, 2017; retrieved July 23, 2018 from: http://www.espn.com/chalk/story/_/id/20098316/cfl-fans-win-345k-50-50-raffle-jackpot-edmonton-eskimos-game

The promoters behind the book Go Lean…Caribbean have come to the US City of Miami, Florida to observe-and-report on this bustling Metropolitan community – filled with Caribbean Diaspora.

We have noticed this same Lottery-Raffle trend in the sport venues here in the Greater Miami area:

Miami Dolphins	NFL Football	Miami Dolphins Foundation 50/50 Raffle
Miami Marlins	MLB Baseball	Marlins Foundation 50/50 Raffle
Florida Panthers	NHL Hockey	Florida Panther Foundation
Homestead Miami Speedway	NASCAR Racing	50/50 NASCAR Foundation Raffle

This Sports-Lottery practice and the South Florida experience gives the Caribbean a lesson-learned that we must apply:

Bring Lottery-Raffles to visitors (tourists).
Bring the jobs to the people!

There is the urgent need to reboot the industrial landscape to create more jobs. We need a new economic landscape in our region because the current one is in shambles! This is due to the primary driver in the region – Tourism – being under assault; more and more visitors shift from stay-overs to cruise arrivals. So this means less economic impact to the local markets. As a region, we must reboot our industrial landscape and add more job-creating options.

Why not bring the “mountain to Muhammad” with … lotteries and raffles, right to the hotel resorts and cruise ports.

Boom, Bang, Bingo! Well, not bingo, rather a raffle.

The book Go Lean…Caribbean – published in November 2013 and available for download now – asserts that the business model of Lotteries could have a place in the Caribbean economic landscape. They can harness a lot of jobs. This book presents a roadmap to elevate the economic engines in Caribbean society and projects that 2,500 new direct jobs can be created with strategic endeavors for the Lottery industry; as follows:

The direct jobs relate to installing, maintaining merchant network & administrative staff.

Even more indirect jobs – 9,375 at a 3.75-to-1 multiplier rate – can be created. This is how the industrial landscape of the Caribbean region can be rebooted, by doubling-down on the gaming interest of Caribbean tourists – most visitors are from North America and thusly familiar with the Sport-Venue Lottery-Raffles.

Rebooting our industrial landscape and adding more jobs has been a consistent theme this month (July 2018; though this effort started in earnest in 2017). This commentary has previously identified a number of different industries that can be rebooted under this Go Lean roadmap. See the list of previous submissions on Industrial Reboots here:

Industrial Reboots – Ferries 101 – Published June 27, 2017
Industrial Reboots – Prisons 101 – Published October 4, 2017
Industrial Reboots – Pipeline 101 – Published October 5, 2017
Industrial Reboots – Frozen Foods 101 – Published October 6, 2017
Industrial Reboots – Call Centers 101 – Published July 2, 2018
Industrial Reboots – Prefab Housing 101 – Published July 14, 2018
Industrial Reboots – Trauma 101 – Published July 18, 2018
Industrial Reboots – Auto-making 101 – Published July 19, 2018
Industrial Reboots – Shipbuilding 101 – Published July 20, 2018
Industrial Reboots – Fisheries 101 – Published – July 23, 2018
Industrial Reboots – Lotteries 101 – Published Today – July 24, 2018

This commentary considers the basics of the Lottery industry and how it can harness many jobs if we reboot our industrial landscape to foster this opportunity. There is no need for a new commentary; this subject had already been elaborated upon in a previous Go Lean commentary from February 20, 2018. That submission is hereby Encored here:

————————————————-
Go Lean Commentary – Leading with Money Matters – Lottery Hopes and Dreams

There is no doubt that gambling is a bad vice, but can a little gaming be tolerated in society?

There are parallels:

There is no doubt that alcoholism is vice-full, but can social consumption be tolerated in society?
There is no doubt tobacco smoking is a dangerous habit, but can some cigarette or the world’s best cigars be good for Caribbean society?

Gambling, mildly permitted can be tolerated and even beneficial for society. Think State Lotteries …

When the jackpot gets huge – millions, tens of millions, hundreds of millions – a lottery can inspire Hope and Dreams. It can even lead people, influence them, steer them to do and act accordingly. Yes, the Hope and Dreams of a Lottery Jackpot, like all other Money Matters, can lead people to a new destination.

Let’s use this power to inspire good, as in Hope and Dreams for our society. Consider this American model; see article here:

Title: Powerball and Mega Millions: What you need to know

By: Chris Sims and Channing King, IndyStar

The Mega Millions and Powerball jackpots now total more than $950 million combined after Wednesday’s drawing failed to produce a winner.

And this stretch is the first time that both multi-state lottery grand prizes have been at more than $400 million each. That makes Saturday’s Powerball $550 million jackpot potentially the eighth largest lottery prize ever and Friday’s Mega Millions $418 million pot potentially the 16th largest lottery prize.

The winning numbers for Wednesday night’s Powerball drawing were 2, 18, 37, 39, 42 and the Powerball was 12. The Power Play number was 3.

Wednesday’s Powerball jackpot worth $460 million was the game’s seventh largest and 10th largest for all lottery games in the United States, according to Dennis Rosebrough, public relations director for the Hoosier Lottery.

► Jan. 3: No one wins Powerball, Mega Millions drawings
► Jan. 2: Happier new year: $800 million in jackpots await lucky winners
► Dec. 31: Will you hit it rich in 2018 with soaring lottery jackpots?

Tuesday’s Mega Millions drawing would have netted a winner $361 million jackpot.

Here’s what you need to know if you play Powerball or Mega Millions:

What is a winning ticket worth?

The Powerball jackpot now stands at $550 million for Saturday’s drawing, payable in 30 annual installments, with a one-time cash option of $347.9 million before taxes.

The Mega Millions grand prize is $418 million for Friday night’s drawing with a cash value of $261 million before taxes.

► Dec. 30: What to do if you win the lottery in 2018
► Nov. 16: North Carolina woman wins lottery twice in one day

No matter how a winner chooses to go, lottery prizes that hefty are taxed as ordinary income and put a winner in the highest tax bracket. So that’s $128.7 million for the feds right off the top of that Powerball lump sum, not counting state and local taxes.

One benefit of winning now vs. last year: The new federal tax cut will allow the winner of Saturday’s Powerball jackpot who chooses the one-time cash option to keep about $9 million more for himself.

When are the drawings?

Powerball numbers are drawn at 10:59 p.m. ET every Wednesday and Saturday. Mega Millions numbers are drawn at 11 p.m. every Tuesday and Friday.

Find out where to watch the drawings on your local TV station by heading to your state lottery’s webpage. (Sorry, Alabama, Alaska, Hawaii, Mississippi, Nevada and Utah; you can’t play unless you cross state lines.)

If you’d rather look online, Powerball’s drawing is streamed here; some websites offer live streaming video of Mega Millions drawings, and Mega Millions’ official YouTubechannel posts its video soon after the live event.

Odds of winning

The odds of buying a winning Powerball ticket are 1 in 25. The odds of hitting the jackpot are 1 in more than 292 million. The odds of becoming a millionaire by matching five numbers is 1 in more than 11.5 million.

Mega Millions’ odds of winning overall are a little better at 1 in 24. However, the odds of winning the grand prize are 1 in more than 302.5 million. A shot at matching five numbers for a $1 million is 1 in more than 12.5.

You have a better chance of achieving sainthood than winning either grand prize, 1 in 20 million, according to Gregory Baer, author of Life: The Odds.

How much does it cost to play?

Powerball and Mega Millions tickets sell for $2 each.

Powerball players can add Power Play for an extra $1 per ticket for a chance to multiply a non-jackpot prize up to five times.

Mega Millions players can purchase the Megaplier for an extra $1 a ticket for a chance to multiply a non-jackpot prize up to five times.

If you win …

Rosebrough recommends that players sign and secure their ticket. Winners should call the number on the back of their ticket when they are ready to claim their prize.

“First, you should pause and take a deep breath,” Rosebrough said. “Then, our experience with past winners says you should consult with some experts whether they be accounting, legal or whatever if you have a major prize.”

Rosenbrough has been impressed with most Indiana winners. Most have had a plan in place before they attempt to receive the money.

How long before you get paid?

Both Powerball and Mega Millions officials transfer the money from a central depository of all districts selling tickets — that includes 44 states, the District of Columbia, Puerto Rico and the U.S. Virgin Islands for Powerball; Mega Millions sells in all of those places except Puerto Rico — to respective state lotteries within 24 to 48 hours, Rosenbrough said.

However, the transfer sometimes can take longer because of things such as long holiday weekends.

Follow Chris Sims and Channing King on Twitter: @ChrisFSims and @ChanningKing

Source: USA Today Newspaper Website – Published, Jan. 4, 2018; retrieved February 20, 2018 from: https://www.usatoday.com/story/money/nation-now/2018/01/04/powerball-mega-millions-need-know/1002979001/

As related in the foregoing, this discussion does have a Caribbean footprint, as Powerball is featured in Puerto Rico and the U.S. Virgin Islands; though ‘Mega Millions’ sells only in the Virgin Island. So our Caribbean people can have lottery hopes and dreams.

Here’s to the losers , bless them all – Song by legendary crooner Frank Sinatra

Everybody will lose at these games, except one of two persons … maybe.

VIDEO – Why you wouldn’t win the lottery – https://www.usatoday.com/videos/money/2018/01/03/why-you-wont-win-lottery/109119580/

Posted January 3, 2018 – The odds of winning the Mega Millions jackpot are 1 in more than 302 million. You have a better chance at all these other extraordinary things. USA TODAY

Add among the list of losers: existing gaming establishments – Atlantic City, New Jersey is now a failing business model – horse racing and dog racing tracks, Jai Lai frontons and other pari-mutuels. There are only limited casino models that now work, mostly regional establishments – think Las Vegas, Mohegan Sun in Connecticut, etc. – with abundant entertainment options. Even in the Caribbean, more and more casino resort amenities are failing to lure guests and gamers.

Yes, the lottery eco-system spins many losers, but there are winners too: the State Governments and their designated beneficiaries. In some states, like Florida, the State Legislature guaranteed in statues that all monies – after prizes and overhead expenses – will go to education. Other states supplement education with other causes, like Elder-Care in Pennsylvania.

The foregoing news article and VIDEO aligns with the book Go Lean…Caribbean, which calls for the elevation of Caribbean economics. The book clearly states that gambling is a losing proposition, but concedes to the economic realities: if people will spend their money on gambling, then the structures should be put in place to limit and regulate these activities – see the Appendix below – this will minimize the vice-full effects on society and maximize the returns to the Greater Good. (This Greater Good was defined by Philosopher Jeremy Bentham – lived from 1748 to 1832 – as the “greatest good to the greatest number of people which is the measure of right and wrong”.

This commentary is the final part, 5 of 5 in a series from the movement behind the book Go Lean … Caribbean in consideration of Money Matters for leading the Caribbean down a different path from their status quo. The other commentaries in the series are cataloged as follows:

Leading with Money Matters: Follow the Jobs
Leading with Money Matters: Competing for New Industries
Leading with Money Matters: Almighty Dollar
Leading with Money Matters: As Goes Housing, Goes the Market
Leading with Money Matters: Lottery Hopes and Dreams

All of these commentaries relate to “how” the stewards for a new Caribbean can persuade the region stakeholders to follow this empowerment roadmap for the region. The series has already establish that if we “dangle money in front of our subjects”, they will respond and react. Now, imagine dangling a big Lottery Jackpot – millions, tens of millions, hundreds of millions.

The book Go Lean… Caribbean, serves as a roadmap for the introduction and implementation of the technocratic Caribbean Union Trade Federation (CU) with the charter to effectuate change in the region with these 3 prime directives:

Optimization of the economic engines in order to grow the regional economy to $800 Billion and create 2.2 million new jobs.
Establishment of a security apparatus to protect the resultant economic engines and marshal against economic crimes.
Improve Caribbean governance to support these engines.

Early in the book, the responsibility to monitor, manage, and mitigate the risks and threats on Caribbean societal engines were identified as an important function for the CU. The plan therefore includes provisions for a regional lottery, even declaring the possibility of 2,500 direct new jobs from the ventures (installing, maintaining merchant network & administrative staff). The opening Declaration of Interdependence (Pages 13) stressed this model:

xxvi. Whereas the Caribbean region must have new jobs to empower the engines of the economy and create the income sources for prosperity, and encourage the next generation to forge their dreams right at home, the Federation must therefore foster the development of new industries… In addition, the Federation must invigorate the enterprises related to existing industries like tourism, fisheries and lotteries – impacting the region with more jobs.

This commentary have previously looked at the vices of society – marijuana, cigars and rum – and prepared sober plans for managing change, risks and threats to Caribbean society. Consider this sample of earlier Go Lean blogs:

https://goleancaribbean.com/blog/?p=13882	Lessons Learned from Managing Marijuana Laws in California
https://goleancaribbean.com/blog/?p=12703	Lessons from Colorado: Legalized Marijuana – Heavy-lifting!
https://goleancaribbean.com/blog/?p=9646	‘Time to Go’ – American Vices. Don’t Follow!
https://goleancaribbean.com/blog/?p=6680	Vegas Casinos Place Bets on Video Games
https://goleancaribbean.com/blog/?p=2887	Caribbean community must work together to address rum subsidies
https://goleancaribbean.com/blog/?p=1847	Caribbean Cigars – Declared “Among the best in the world”
https://goleancaribbean.com/blog/?p=1386	Marijuana in Jamaica – Puff Peace

The Go Lean book provides 370 pages of detailed instructions regarding the community ethos needed to effect change and empowerment in the societal engines. Lotteries will create a stark contrast for member-states to reconcile. In the past,they told their citizens to work hard, live a clean life and they will prosper where planted in the Caribbean region. Now the message changes to “Buy a Ticket; Get Rich Quick”. This transformation requires the right messaging, plus the executions of the required strategies, tactics, implementations and advocacies to shepherd these societal engines. One particular advocacy in the book relates directly to a regional lottery (Page 213); consider some of the specific plans, excerpts and headlines from that advocacy in the book:

10 Ways to Impact the Lottery

1	Lean-in for the Caribbean Single Market This treaty allows for the unification of the region into one market, thereby expanding to an economy of 26 countries, 42 million people and a GDP of over $800 Billion (per 2010). The Trade Federation will function as a government “proxy”, a multi-national corporation to deliver the services for an integrated administration. The CU will generate revenues from its own sources, like a lottery, by developing and harvesting regional eco-systems for efforts too big for just one state. The CU is also the sole authority for Self Governing Entities, bordered sites, where lottery tickets can be sold & cashed.
2	Caribbean Dollars Only The CU Lottery will transact in Caribbean Dollars, not US dollars, UK pounds nor Euros. This way the financial benefit and economic multiplier remains in the region. Consider this UK model: 12% of revenue proceeds go to the State Government, 5% goes to lottery retailers, 4% to Lottery operations, and the remainder (over 50%) paid out in winnings.
3	Powerball / Mega-Millions Models – where even the Retailers share in the Winnings The CU will model the Caribbean Regional Lottery after the American examples of Powerball and Mega-Millions. These multi-state systems have melded ideally with state counterparts, by incentivizing more gaming due to extra large jackpots tied to more players. Most people, gamblers or not, have no qualms wagering $1-to-$2 on “surreal” jackpots.
4	Education as a Beneficiary A lottery will be a “tough sell”, unless it’s for the greater good. Education as the beneficiary is the “winning” argument that has worked in some jurisdiction. In fact, in Florida, the Lottery Referendum failed to win majority support many times, until it was aligned with the state’s educational initiatives. Then it passed…overwhelmingly.
5	Elder-Care as a Beneficiary Not everyone in a jurisdiction, (childless/empty-nesters), care about educational benefits. Pennsylvania-USA aligned their lottery operations to benefit Elder-Care. This too, is a winning inducement, as everyone hopes to be old someday.
6	Cooperation with National Lotteries The CU’s Lottery will co-exist with State Lotteries, by not deploying CU scratchcard games. Jamaica, Trinidad, Aruba and St. Lucia have successful programs; the US Virgin Islands and Puerto Rico have US Dollar lotteries plus Powerball / Mega-Millions. The USVI Lottery is also a member of an existing small Caribbean Lottery with other islands, such as Sint Maarten, Saint Kitts and Nevis, and Barbados. The CU Lottery will assimilate this current regional effort.
7	Hurricane Risk Reinsurance Fund Merchant Network and Online Presence
8	Diaspora Purchasing
9	Prize: Annuity Pay-outs Like most lotteries, the CU’s option will award large prizes as 20-year annuities, with no inheritance benefits. This approach allows more funds to be immediately applied to lotteries beneficiaries and promotes the CU’s capital markets.
10	Prize: Lump-Sum Pay-outs Like most lotteries, the CU will also allow prize winners to take an immediate pay-out rather than elect the 20-year annuity. The rules of NPV (Net Present Value) apply, so the lump-sum payout averages 45 – 60% of the jackpot.

This Go Lean/CU roadmap is not advocating the abandonment of wholesome industrial values. No, in fact the regional government will actually message against gambling, even lotteries. But if people will still consume – and they do – then i is pragmatic to facilitate the consumption of lotteries and tax the revenues… and benefit the people (education, Elder-Care, etc.).

The Caribbean can be a better place to live, work and play; play will include lotteries. Our goal remains: to be the best address on the planet. This is not a lottery fantasy with long odds. No, while effectively leading with Money Matters, change can be fostered in the Caribbean homeland. This roadmap is conceivable, believable and achievable. 🙂

We urge everyone to lean-in to this vision.

Download the book Go Lean … Caribbean – now!

Sign the petition to lean-in for this roadmap for the Caribbean Union Trade Federation.

————

Appendix – The Bottom Line on Gambling

Gambling is a major international commercial activity, with the legal gambling market totaling an estimated US$335 billion in 2009. Religious perspectives on gambling have been mixed. The Catholic Church holds the position that there is no moral impediment to gambling, so long as it is fair, all bettors have a reasonable chance of winning, there is no fraud involved, and the parties involved do not have actual knowledge of the outcome of the bet. [Catholic Churches are notorious for BINGO fundraisers].

Gambling has often been seen as having social consequences. For these social and religious reasons, most legal jurisdictions limit [and regulate] gambling. Such regulation generally leads to gambling tourism and illegal gambling in areas where it is not allowed. The involvement of governments, through regulation and taxation, has led to close connections between many governments and gaming firms, where legal gambling provides significant government revenues.

Studies show that though many people participate in gambling as a form of recreation or even as a means to gain an income, gambling, like any behavior which involves variation in brain chemistry, can become harmful, psychologically addictive.

Online gambling, also known as Internet gambling, is a general term for gambling using the Internet. In 1994 the Caribbean nation of Antigua and Barbuda passed the Free Trade & Processing act, allowing licenses to be granted to organizations applying to open online casinos. [The practice continues, even fighting and winning legal bouts at the WTO against the US].

Many of the companies operating out of Antigua are publicly traded on various stock exchanges, specifically the London Stock Exchange. Antigua has met British regulatory standards and has been added to the UK’s “white list”, which allows licensed Antiguan companies to advertise in the UK. By 2001, the estimated number of people who had participated in online gambling rose to 8 million and the growth continued, despite legislation and lawsuit challenges to online gambling. By 2008, estimates for worldwide online gambling revenue were at $21 billion. Most lotteries are run by governments and are heavily protected from competition due to their ability to generate large taxable cash flows. The first online lotteries were run by private companies but these stop trading as governments passed new laws giving themselves and their own lotteries greater protection. Government controlled lotteries now offer their games online, as with the UK National Lottery.

References:

“You bet”. The Economist. Posted 7/8/2010; retrieved 7/1/2013 from: http://www.economist.com/node/16539402
Wikipedia.org general subject treatment for Gambling. Retrieved 7/1/2013 from: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gambling

Source: Book Go Lean…Caribbean Page 213

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