New non-traditional tourism packages to sell Caribbean

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Tourism News

Thursday, 13 May 2010 15:37

By CMC

CMC – Tourism officials from across the region ended a meeting here on Wednesday committing themselves to the development of a “new non- traditional’ tourism package as part of the new initiative to make the Caribbean more competitive on the global stage.

Secretary General of the Caribbean Tourism Organisation (CTO), Hugh Riley told the Caribbean Media Corporation (CTO) that the three-day 11th Annual Caribbean Conference on Sustainable Tourism Development event was not just another academic exercise.

“We thought that it should be meaningful enough to make a connection between real world matters and people’s concerns about being responsible and about preservation of our assets in the Caribbean.

“I think the conference has done that and we are extremely satisfied with the results.  I think there were three main planks upon the whole thin stood… here are the facts, pay attention and take action.”

Riley said that while Caribbean countries would not be able to implement immediately all the recommendations emanating from the conference, but it was important to make a start.

Sue Springer, Executive Director of the Barbados Hospitality Tourism Association (BHTA) said that the conference could not have come at a better time.

“The quality of speakers have been fantastic, a lot of different topics whether or not it had to do with  carbon  or heritage, or whatever it is,  I think that anybody that would have been here could not have found a topic that would have been engaged in”.

Dominica’s representative at the conference, Ester Thomas, said one of the recommendations dealt with the involvement of the community in the tourism product.

“We continue to emphasize the importance of community tourism, mindful that our people are our one of our assets.  

“So we ensure that around the island of Dominica, where we have natural assets, what we seek to do is to provide the necessary capacity and infrastructure to enable them to be empowered with what is within their community and develop entrepreneurship  around so that they can benefit  from the development if their communities.

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Director of the National Geographic Centre for Sustainable Destinations, Jonathan Tourtellot, told delegates that the Caribbean needed to change the way it conducts business within the tourism industry.

One feature of the conference was the study tours that allowed delegates to acquire hands on knowledge on how to incorporate communities, heritage and culture as part of a redefined tourism packaged.  

Next year's conference will take place in Bermuda.

Meanwhile, Britain's controversial Air Passenger Duty (APD) is likely to be replaced by a new taxation system, the coalition government has announced.

An agreement hammered out between the Conservative and Liberal Democrat parties makes clear their commitment to a new and potentially more-punitive tax system.

APD has been criticised by Caribbean countries because it makes the region a far more expensive destination.

But the David Cameron coalition government said that the two parties have agreed “that a switch should be made to a per-plane, rather than per-passenger duty”.

However, the travel industry will be waiting to see how this new system is fleshed out, with critics noting that the Lib Dems favouring higher taxes for passengers.

Speculating on the consequences of a more punitive tax system, British Airways issued a statement warning that “increased taxation on the UK aviation industry will create a financial incentive for customers to fly via continental hubs rather than direct from, or transiting through, UK airports”.

 

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