The Sustainable Tourism Zone of the Caribbean (STZC) was officially created by the signature of the Convention for Sustainable Tourism in December of 2001, during the III Summit of the Association of Caribbean States, in Margarita Island, Venezuela. The objective of this convention is to establish that the zone is a geographically determined cultural, socio-economic and biologically rich and diverse unit, in which tourism development will depend on sustainability and the principles of integration, co-operation and consensus, aimed at facilitating the integrated development of the Greater Caribbean.
The Sustainable Tourism Zone does not mean simply taking care of ecosystems in the strict sense, but what we must promote is balanced development among our people to make sustainability possible. Knowledge on the part of the receiving society, the people of the STZC will allow it to perceive new frameworks for attitudes and actions in tourism-oriented societies. The main objective should therefore be to promote community participation in decision-making, planning and in general, in the benefits and solution to problems generated by tourism activity.
The strategy for facing this challenge involves the two main actors in our societies:
• The states as an agents of management and change, and
• The civil society as a new emerging actor, at this new century in the era of globalization.
The fundamental strategies for the achievement for the anticipated objectives were designed, one of them being: The elaboration of a guide for piloting sustainable tourism in areas and businesses, through a mechanism of action and sustainability indicators, which will be adapted to the specific characteristics of the Greater Caribbean Region.
This work was developed in 2002 by the French Agency for Tourist Engineering (AFIT) and the French Consulting Geo-System specialized in sustainable tourism.
The working method was based on:
• an analysis of tourism in the Caribbean, and
• a methodological proposal for adapting the AFIT method to the context of the Caribbean on the basis of a trial project in a test area.
A measuring system has been established for the homogeneous but individualized normative indicators and the aims to be achieved, as well as the speed of progress that will be defined for each destination, through a local objectives contract drawn up by the local stakeholders.
The analysis of the proposed area makes it possible to identify the tourist issues by setting them in a global context. This analysis is based on:
• the existing documentation (studies, monographs, tourist documentation, the media, etc.), institutional information files,
• interviews with those in charge of local tourist development (elected representatives, technicians, etc.),
• analysis of the parties involved, and
• observation and/or knowledge of the terrain.
Analysis of businesses makes it possible to grasp the different types of logic used by the whole diversity of parties involved, with their practices and expectations in terms of sustainable tourism.
In European countries, it is relatively easy to ascertain the diversity of businesses using public data, as recommended in the AFIT guide.
In the case of the Greater Caribbean, however, the main difficulty to be overcome is obtaining reliable data to reflect the diversity of the parties involved and the businesses. In addition, even if these data exist, it is very difficult, if not impossible, to compare them, as they differ so immensely from state to state.
The second difficulty lies in the actual content of these data, which only take into account businesses, which have a legal existence. Now in the Caribbean the informal economy has a very important place in the tourism sector: street sellers of handicrafts, take-away food, alternative accommodation with no legal existence, street guides, etc.
Nevertheless, use of the existing data is vital as long as its relevance is systematically ascertained.
In all cases, the destinations must mobilize their own resources, using their own know-how and innovation to solve this problem.
Dr. Zoila González Maicas is Director of Sustainable Tourism 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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