Carib group wants regional tourism summit

Janet Silvera, Senior Gleaner Writer

NASSAU, Bahamas:
The Caribbean Hotel and Tourism Association (CHTA), is calling for the Caribbean Heads of Government to convene, within the next six months, a regional summit on tourism.

The CHTA made the resolution at a Board of Directors meeting on Sunday, at the Caribbean Travel Marketplace, now on at the Atlantis, Paradise Island, in The Bahamas.



Although, admitting that the region was the most tourism-dependent in the world, Caribbean heads over the years have been criticised for placing the industry on the back burner.

"If the Caribbean is to remain the world's leading warm-weather tourism destination, CHTA believes that Governments, the Caribbean Tourism Organisation (CTO), the leadership of the industry and the industry partners need to develop jointly and as a matter of urgency, a strategic approach that provides sustainable long term growth in the Caribbean tourism economy," said the CHTA in a media release Monday morning.

The CHTA made the call based on the unique capacity of the industry to increase employment, foreign exchange and investment and GDP at a time of economic uncertainty, in addition to the challenges that the tourism industry as a whole faces.

The organization wants the Heads of Government to tackle the burning issues of airlift, travel facilitation, marketing, visitor security, human resource development, the environment and new ways to encourage GDP growth through a common approach to the problems facing the industry.

"Such a summit would enable the Caribbean, as the most tourism dependent region in the world, to address global competition and return to the levels of success last seen in 2006," said the CHTA.

janet.silvera@gleanerjm.com