BRIDGETOWN, Barbados, Sep 15 2016 – St. Lucia’s Prime Minister Allen Chastanet says he is convinced that Caribbean Community (CARICOM) leaders are now ready to give the tourism sector the necessary impetus to allow it to assume it’s rightful place as the major economic pillar for the development of regional economies.
Speaking to reporters following three hours of talks with Caribbean tourism ministers attending the three-day Caribbean Tourism Organization (CTO) State of the Industry Conference, (SOTIC), Chastanet said at the last CARICOM summit held in Guyana in July, there was strong recognition among the leaders that greater attention needed to be given to the promotion of the tourism sector.
“At the July summit Bahamian Prime Minister (Perry) Christie along with other heads called for a tourism summit in January, and we have to use that as a platform to be able to launch a unified approach to promoting and developing the industry,” he said.
“We strongly believe that the public and private sector need to be able to function in a more co-ordinated way,” Chastanet said, citing the need for agreement to be reached on the establishment of the long mooted Tourism Development Fund.
“It is time for us to put that into place and also ensure that other institutions that we have are making positive contributions in terms of statistics and advocacy for this region,” he said.
During Wednesday night’s SOTIC opening ceremony, Barbados’ Tourism Minister Richard Sealy said he had invited Chastanet to hold talks with the regional tourism ministers as they prepare for the tourism summit in January. (CMC)
