opinion

The Greater Caribbean This Week

Everyone who is someone in Caribbean tourism will want to be at the Fifth Annual Caribbean Conference on Sustainable Tourism Development, which will be held from September 9 - 12, 2003 at the St. Kitts Marriott Royal Beach Resort, St. Kitts & Nevis. Under the theme "Keeping the Right Balance --- Embracing our Heritage in the Greater Caribbean", this conference is organized by the Caribbean Tourism Organization (CTO), in collaboration with the Association of Caribbean States (ACS) and in conjunction with the host country, St. Kitts and Nevis.

Participants will have the chance to meet regional and international tourism specialists; interact with development experts from the cultural, environmental, academic and local community sectors; share their experiences and offer solutions to problems in developing sustainable tourism; and help develop policies and programs to achieve sustainability in the region.

This is a significant step for the ACS in giving life to its Convention on the Sustainable Tourism Zone of the Caribbean, by working with the industry's most important stakeholders, said ACS Secretary General Professor Norman Girvan said about conference.

In the Caribbean, sustainable tourism is understood as the optimal use of natural, cultural, financial and human resources for national development on an equitable and self-sustaining basis, in order to provide a unique visitor experience and an improved quality of life for the people of the Greater Caribbean, through partnerships among governments, the private sector and communities.

The annual Caribbean Conference on Sustainable Tourism Development is a component of the information dissemination and regional awareness program of the CTO's Strategy for Sustainable Tourism Development in the Region. Organized by the CTO since 1997, it has evolved from the Caribbean Ecotourism Conferences held from 1991 to 1996.

In 2002, the ACS offered to collaborate with the CTO to organize the conference and to expand its coverage to include the ACS's Central and South American member countries. The 2003 conference, therefore, constitutes the first attempt of these two organizations to combine efforts to further disseminate the principles of sustainable development in the tourism industry of the entire Caribbean region.

The conference looks at how CTO and ACS member states can design and implement sustainable tourism policies and programs, offering a regional forum for information exchange on the successes and pitfalls of national, regional and international initiatives. This exercise provides the opportunity for stakeholders to learn from the past, build on the present and plan for the future.

"A successful conference is one that allows for the host country to clearly identify the key issues in its own search for tourism sustainability, and to commit to putting in place the policies and programs to achieve positive results," says the CTO in its conference brochure.

"Keeping the Right Balance," the overall motto of these Conferences, reflects the fact that sustainability of tourism in the Caribbean depends on the proper coordination and cooperation of all stakeholders. This conference brings together regional and international tourism specialists, development experts in the cultural and environmental sectors as well as the academic and local communities to share their experiences and offer solutions to problems in the development of sustainable tourism.

The second part of the theme for this Conference is "Embracing our Heritage in the Greater Caribbean," understanding that this is what makes the Caribbean different from the rest of the world's warm weather destinations. Nevertheless, the region has not fully realized and utilized the potential of this heritage to emphasize the uniqueness of its product in the competitive global tourism market.

Heritage sites, protected areas and the participation of the tourism industry stakeholders will be the special focus of the conference. Each session will explore how proper planning and management of natural and cultural endowments --- the Greater Caribbean heritage --- will guarantee the sustainability of its products and ultimately, the tourism industry. These discussions will be illustrated by a series of local, national, regional and international best practices (case studies).

Interested persons can register online for the conference from www.acs- aec.org. No one from the Greater Caribbean tourism industry will want to miss it.


Aleem Khan is the Communications Chargé of the Association of Caribbean States. The views expressed are not necessarily the official views of the ACS. Feedback can be sent to mail@acs- aec.org.


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