Philipsburg- Director of the St. Maarten Tourist Bureau, Regina LaBega, is urging St. Maarteners to apply for the Arley Sobers Memorial Scholarship in order to "take advantage of this opportunity to upgrade themselves, particularly in the vital areas of research and/or statistics which are badly needed today more than ever before."The Caribbean Tourism Organization (CTO) recently announced the launch of the first annual Arley Sobers Memorial Scholarship for Caribbean nationals working in tourism research and/or statistics. The US$5,000 scholarship is named in memory of the late CTO Interim Secretary General and Director of Information Management and Research who died suddenly last August while on an overseas mission for the organization.
According to LaBega, the late Arley Sobers was a friend of St. Maarten, who loved to visit the island and did not hesitate to lend his expertise in the organization of workshops aimed at further developing our human resource in the field of tourism.
"Arley Sobers definitely believed in tourism intelligence and believed the best way to gauge your marketing efforts is by the E/D (Entry & Departure) cards," Ms. LaBega stated.
"He believed that the region should have one universal "system" which would allow for comparisons as well. He wanted to organize a regional summit/forum in St. Maarten with all the professionals that play a role in the E/D System, i.e. Justice, airport, and tourism officials, as well as Commissioners and Ministers in charge of those portfolios."
LaBega said "he was a powerful, quiet and really nice person who deserves to be honored in this way."
Arley Sobers had conducted a three-day Educators Forum on St. Maarten in May 2004 designed for post secondary educators in the field of tourism, as well as tourism human resource professionals, consultants, trainers and educators. The theme of the Forum was "The E- Learning Professional - Exploring the Key Competencies needed to successfully use Technology to Develop People.
Sobers had also organized a Web 2.0 Social Networking seminar here in September 2007 which gave participants an understanding of the evolution and opportunities of Web 2.0 as it relates to travel marketing.
St. Maarteners and Caribbean nationals interested in applying for the Arley Sobers Memorial Scholarship have until April 30, 2009 to do so. Detailed information on how to apply for the scholarship can be obtained at www.onecaribbean.org
