Cristina –as she says Cubans baptized her here- is perhaps one of the strongest will-powered women in the whole tourist industry in the Caribbean and Latin America. Excellencies had a friendly and unbiased talk with her in which she recounted both her professional career and her personal life.

You say you don't speak fluent English. Indeed, I think you do speak good English, so I think we could talk in that language. We'd like to know how you landed in the realm of tourism in the first place?

I come from a small German town. My dream always was to some day relate to people from all around the world. That's why I wanted to be a journalist. I was very fond of languages and that seemed a pretty good idea to me. Yet, one day I realized that career would never let me earn as much money as I wanted to make. So, I swerved off a little bit and headed into the world of tourism. This particular field provides an interesting combination that allows you to meet people from different cultures, speak other languages and travel a lot across the world's most interesting places. That's how I reached this position I hold down now.

What was your former post?

I feel myself kind of a traveler ‘cause I've been involved in tourism for some 25 years. After college, I started out in the U.S., in hotels teamed up with a reception agent. Then, I worked roughly 10 years for the LTT Group under the Meier's trademark.

How do you assess tourism in the Caribbean as we speak? What destinations do you believe have a brighter future?

I guess in the German market we cannot speak of the Caribbean as just one Caribbean. There are many Caribbean islands with different potentials of their own for the German market. Now the current exchange rate between dollars and euros is going to help us boost this destination. For example, we've lost some southern Caribbean islands because we lack the necessary air service from Germany and because prices are too high, too. I think the Caribbean has a position of its own in the German market, it's a great destination for those seeking budget relief through this system, and also for people looking for complete freedom during their vacations.

What destinations do you believe have a brighter future?

For me, Cuba is the one destination that has it all. Cities like Havana and Trinidad are special burgs with great ambiance that capture the traveler's heart. The Dominican Republic is not looking so good right now because they must work a tad to improve their image among German travelers. Jamaica is a destination we're interested in, however, they must do away with some security problems they still have. As to Cancun, Germans eye it as part of the Caribbean. For me, Cancun is also a part of Mexico, and I like promoting Mexico as a country rather than as Caribbean beaches. By and large, I think the Caribbean has great potentials for the German market.

You're also in charge of the Latin America area. How do you assess the “birth” of Panama in the Central European region?

First of all, we've got serious air-transportation problems with those countries. Panama is a very special country but just for a pretty small charter group. For a German, it's too pricey to travel to Latin America. You need a lot of time because when it comes to the Caribbean, you can take a weeklong trip, go to one city and lay back at the beaches. You cannot do that in South America, because the flight takes 12 hours or longer, it's way too expensive, countries are too big and you must travel inside those nations. For all those reasons, South America is a hard-to-sell destination among German vacationers.

Do you see multi-destination as a choice? Visiting, say, a sun-and-beach destination and a cultural one?

Very much. My belief is once a tourist has traveled for about 12 hours, it makes a lot of sense to see two countries or a couple of places within one country. That's what we do in promoting the Dominican Republic: Puerto Plata and Punta Cana teamed up in just one trip. Just like in Brazil, where nobody travels solely to Iguazu. Or in the case of Cuba, where you can choose from a Havana-Holguin or a Havana-Varadero tour. That's also what we do in plenty of Latin American nations within this great circuit. I believe this option truly bears watching even though pricey fares allow only a few tourists to make this dream come true.

Ecological tourism and scuba-diving options are key for Germans. How would you rate that?

I'll rank them in the following order: sun and beach, scuba diving and ecology. For us, ecology is important, yet it's not the number-one reason to travel abroad. You can combine that with sun, beach and culture, but it doesn't work as mass market. I'd like to see it very much in place, but...

Cristina, as we usually say among Hispanics, let's go to the human side of the story. How does it feel to be a chief exec for one of the world's top tour operators, with so many responsibilities, being a woman, a mother, a wife and vying with men in so fierce a world?

First of all, I don't think men's world is a fierce one. Sometimes I believe I've got the edge for being a woman and I've never seen many hurdles in a woman's way. It's true we must work a little bit harder, but I also think we always have greater desires and greater motivations. We ourselves get down to work very, very hard. For me work is work and hobby at the same time, otherwise I won't be able to do it because I put a lot of time into it. I'm lucky enough to have my husband working in the tourist industry, too, so he understands me. Otherwise, this will never click.

I've been in this position for three years. I remember when I was first offered this job I asked about maternity rights. They looked at me as if saying “what for?” I replied, “what's the matter with you? Do you think that because I'm going to take a high-ranking responsibility that means I'm not interested in having a child?” They told me, “we've never thought about that because you're the first woman to ever take this post. We don't have a maternity program, but now we're going to have one.” That made me snicker because I do believe it's important for a woman in a position like mine to have the chance of having a baby, not to be afraid of saying so and not to have her career cut off because of that.