Region urged to embrace sustainable tourism practices

Thursday, April 19, 2012

Source - Jamaica Observer

"This is why CTO is playing a leading role in promoting tourism awareness amongst our people, and for establishing minimum standards for preparing and delivering the outstanding natural products of our region."

STC-13 brings together 200 tourism industry leaders from the more than 30 Caribbean and international sustainable tourism practitioners and experts, academics and others.

The four-day conference, which opened on Sunday, is being held under the theme 'Keeping the Right Balance: Sustaining our Resources'.

Skerritt, who is also the tourism minister in St Kitts and Nevis, told the opening ceremony this year's theme was no accident.

"The case of Guyana is a clear example that it is our God-given natural assets and our rich cultural heritage that best distinguish the Caribbean from our competitors, and that responsible tourism is actually good business.

"And, with tourism being the leading money earner for so many Caribbean countries, what this conference theme suggests is that, in order to appropriately address the essentials of economic growth and poverty alleviation, we must each adopt a development strategy that is sustainability based," Skerrit said.

He hailed the host country for responsible decision-making in building its sustainable tourism platform, making specific mention of the Low Carbon Development Strategy pioneered by former president Bharrat Jagdeo. Under the programme the Caribbean Community (Caricom) receives compensation for the preservation of its vast forests.

"It is therefore my pleasure today to add to the global applause for the Guyana Government and people, for placing such high value on your biodiversity conservation, ecosystem management, and climate change adaptation efforts. Guyana's initiatives in this regard are yet another example that the Caribbean is not hamstrung by its size, and can lead the world," he said.

"The good news is that Guyana's decision to better manage its vast forest resources, and to be responsible in its development strategy, is attracting more and more attention from the world of travel & tourism, especially the adventure-tourism markets," he added.

Skerritt wants other destinations to follow Guyana's lead in "responsible decision-making".

"With the urgent economic imperatives and critical fiscal challenges confronting our region, Guyana could easily have succumbed to the temptation to expand the extraction of timber and other resources from its vast rain forests, for economic gain. But recognising the long-term negative impact of deforestation, Guyana has been convinced that it ought not to be forced to choose been short-term development priorities and climate change.

"Even with the scary storm clouds of recession still hovering in our region, and the loud insistent call that we must get our economic houses in order quickly, the Guyana government still chose to protect virtually its entire 40 million acres of rainforest. This means that approximately 80 per cent of the natural land asset of Guyana is being preserved through deliberate and responsible decision-making by its government," he added.

Guyana's Acting Tourism Minister Irfaan Ali said his country expected that tourism would play a critical role in the development of the country's economy.

He told delegates that it was his government's view that eco-incentives and benefits must be skewed in the direction of motivating investments in sustainable tourism.

The host minister made a pitch for the setting up an integrated marketing plan that fuses the advantages of CTO member states. He said such a plan should withstand external shocks and create avenues for new opportunities.

STC-13 will include panel discussions and study tours, all in an effort to better understand the business and find meaningful ways of promoting and maintaining sound sustainable tourism practices.

This is the second time Guyana is hosting the event.

Dem bai diss some good jokas, ah wah wah di wuk datt Maniram minsta bin gatt aaalll deeze years.  PPP ah talk like dem juss tek ova.

This is a big joke. Just increase the security and provide some fairness in the justice system where we can trust it and you will see how many will come. A gentleman who returned home was beaten up and robbed by an individual and he happened to see him in the airport where he went to see some of his people off. Despite him and his son both identifying the culprit as a cop working there the presiding oversight officer at the Police station  had the audacity to tell t he newspaper there is something "fishy" about the accusation. I guess a busted head and loss of cash is reduced to fishiness in the eyes of these facilitators of crookedness. Let the government take care of justice and the people will come.