Caribbean Region to Work Together on Sustainable Tourism

Members of the Association of Caribbean States, ACS, ended two days of meetings this week, held on the island of Margarita, off the Venezuelan mainland coast, with the promise to empower those, who hold major roles within communities, to contribute positively to local and regional tourist products.   

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The conference comes as the ACS recognizes the United Nations World Tourism Organization's announcement of 2017 as the Year of Sustainable Tourism for Development.

The International Year aims to support a change in policies, business practices and consumer behavior towards a more sustainable tourism sector than can contribute effectively to sustainable development goals, and will promote tourism’s role in the five key areas: inclusive and sustainable economic growth; social inclusiveness, employment and poverty reduction; resource efficiency, environmental protection and climate change; cultural values, diversity and heritage; and mutual understanding, peace and security. "Each community has something to offer to the regional product."

Dr. June Soomer, secretary-general of the ACS, believes that increased support, through sponsorship programs, can directly involve entrepreneurs, artisans and innovators in expanding existing tourist products and in creating new ones.

Host country, Venezuela, has committed to regional cooperation on the topic of sustainable tourism. According to vice minister for the Caribbean, within Venezuela's Foreign Ministry, Raul Licausi, the South American nation will promote and develop sustainable and responsible tourism in the Caribbean Sea, as a community and social activity, in accordance with the principles of social inclusion, social and economic justice, guaranteeing the right to recreation by the population.

Licausi said this would include the most vulnerable sectors, with respect for the environment, biological diversity, values of popular cultures and Caribbean cultural heritage.

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"We will sponsor community-based tourism through socio-productive organizations, so that the inhabitants of the communities themselves manage their own development, including the management of local tourist destinations. We will also promote the endogenous planning and sustainable use of the natural resources of its surroundings, in order to improve the quality of life, both individual and collective."

He added that his team will formulate on the basis of the common interests of the association member countries and in close coordination with the Special Committee for Sustainable Tourism, the design of sustainable tourism plans that incorporate aspects relevant to the sector such as: criteria for conservation of protected natural areas, in relation to their respective management plans; models of participation of local communities in the management and operation of sustainable tourism activities; levels of responsibility of natural and legal persons, public and private, with and without profit; and a scope of participation of organized communities in decision-making bodies and other forms of collective participation.

Progress for set initiatives will be revised throughout the year. The next meeting on sustainable tourism will be held next July on Trinidad and Tobago.The Association of Caribbean States is the organization for consultation, cooperation and concerted action in trade, transport, sustainable tourism and natural disasters in the Greater Caribbean.

Its member states are Antigua and Barbuda, The Bahamas, Barbados, Belize, Colombia, Costa Rica, Cuba, Dominica, Dominican Republic, El Salvador, Grenada, Guatemala, Guyana, Haiti, Honduras, Mexico, Jamaica, Nicaragua, Panama, St. Kitts and Nevis, St. Lucia, St. Vincent and the Grenadines, Suriname, Trinidad and Tobago and Venezuela. Its Associate Members are Aruba, Curacao, (France on behalf of French Guiana, Saint Barthelemy and Saint Martin), Guadeloupe, Martinique, Sint Maarten, (The Netherlands on behalf of Bonaire, Saba, and Sint Eustatius), Turks and Caicos.