Esther, please tell us how you started in the tourism industry?

I started in the tourism industry working in the airline sector in 1984, BWIA (BRITISH WEST INDIAN AIRWAYS). Upon leaving BWIA, I then started with St Kitts Tourism Authority as Tourist Director.

As a young woman starting in Sales and Marketing, it was very challenging. At the time there were not many women in such positions. In the early days the perception was that if you were a woman and worked in the airline sector then you were a flight attendant. I always had to correct people. I still find that even now when I say that I used to work for BWIA, people still think, because I started so early: “You were an airhostess…” I am very happy that I started so early and it is very rewarding because there are many more women in tourism as a whole.

As Director for UK and Europe, it has it's up and down. My Minister of Tourism is supportive and very passionate about his work and island. He lets me use my initiative and he values my opinion.

I have been doing it for a long time and I now know my market very well. And I think that we have gained a lot in the last four (4) to five (5) years. When I started with St. Kitts Tourism, the island was relativity unknown in Europe, now; especially in the United Kingdom it has become very popular. When surveys are conducted for CTO, (Caribbean Tourism Organization) and we show them the countries or ask them which countries they know, St Kitts has a very high recognition factor and is always among the top ten (10) destinations in the Caribbean. It has all been accomplishment through to sheer hard work, targeted advertising and marketing through our offices, the reps (representative) in Germany & France, participating in tradeshows around Europe: Spain, Italy, Guttenberg and so on.

How do you combine personal life, as woman, mother and wife with work, because I think for a woman it is more difficult than for a man.

It's very difficult. My husband actually thinks he's a bachelor. Every time I go away he amazes his family in Trinidad and says: my wife has left me again, my daughter is in school and I am a bachelor again. It is difficult, but my husband is very supportive and he does not travel for work and my daughter is in school. Of course her friends at school cannot understands why her mum travels all the time to go to work and her father is at home looking after her. It is kind of a role reversal. It's good.

We would like you to give your opinion about work relation between men and women in the Caribbean. Do you notice that for some of them women are still not at the same level?

Yes it is difficult. A lot of Caribbean men still have a difficult time relating to women in a business and professional manner. Although they love strong women, it's challenging for them when they are faced with attractive, intelligent businesswomen. They immediately want to mix business with pleasure. At times they do not know how to take us seriously and that can cause problems. Women are however making strides in the Caribbean and number of them have top positions in Government and private sector.

Do you have any anecdote that happened to you working in tourism as a woman?

Yes, but I don't know if I can tell you this. Normally at the end of a long day at trade shows, a few of us would get together at the hotel for drinks and a chat in one of the rooms. This is a way of unwinding after a long day. At the end of one of these sessions, there was a gentleman who was lingering behind after all the others had left. It was obvious what he had in mind because he started undressing in my room. I was very angry and annoyed that this man would assume such a thing. I immediately asked him to leave which he did. He was very shocked and embarrassed. It's one of many incidents that had happened to me as a woman in this industry. I'm sure that does not happened to a man in this industry but we have to be strong. And I think only strong woman can do this.