[Fwd: CAST Organized Input to the Caribbean Tourism Summit]

"Kelly Robinson (by way of Bruce at Island Resources)" wrote:
>
> [Note that the deadline for input to this process is MAY 11. . . .
> . . correspond directly with Kelly Robinson at
> <krobinson@chahotels.com> . . . . bp]
>
> CARIBBEAN TOURISM SUMMIT: July 2 - 7, 2001
>
> The Caribbean is one of the world's most tourism dependant regions.
> In 1996, the industry is estimated to
> have accounted for one out of every five job opportunities and to
> have contributed US$ 6.5 billion in taxes. The projected annual 4.6%
> growth in stay over visitor arrivals leading to the year 2010 is
> expected to generate the need for 222,000 hotel rooms, an increase of
> over 20%. Similarly, not only do the benefits of tourism impact on
> the economy, but the adverse impacts of tourism also impact on the
> entire economy through investment decisions and ecosystem linkages.
>
> Given the tremendous growth of the industry, and the region's
> dependency on tourism, the CARICOM Heads of Government have elected
> to convene a Tourism Summit in the Bahamas from July 2nd to July 9th.
> There are seven key areas of interest which will be discussed;
> Regional Marketing, Caribbean Product, Investment, Airlift, Human
> Resouce Development, Technology, and Linkages. Within the key area
> of Product Development, The Environment and Sustainability has been
> identified as a sub-sector.
>
> To date, the process established by CARICOM for inclusion in the
> Tourism Summit is a meeting of Heads of Government with regional and
> international experts in the field. Although they have not requested
> formal papers, we are preparing a set of briefing papers for
> representatives who will be attending.
>
> Given that this a valuable opportunity to put forward specific
> recommendations, and the expertise that are
> contained within the various regional and national organizations that
> comprise our Technical Advisory Committee, we would like to solicit
> your assistance in identifying what are the MOST CRITICAL
> recommendations and in reviewing the position paper.
>
> If you would like to put forward specific strategies or have relevant
> information for this process, please respond to
> <krobinson@chahotels.com> with a written statement for consideration.
> We would propose interventions follow the following topics, but feel
> free to raise any other issues you feel relevant. As a side note,
> Tourism Linkages is a seperate subject. Please submit topics for
> consideration by May 11th to <krobinson@chahotels.com>
>
> 1. SIDS
> 2. Environmental Treaties
> 3. Building Codes and Siting & Design Issues
> 4. Green Technologies
> 5. Public Health & Visitor Safety
>
> We will convene a small working group made up of various institutions
> to work on May 16th in San Juan on a process of selection. We have
> been advised that we should limit our recommendations to four or five
> very specific actions. This group will produce a document that will
> be circulated on the CAST TAC Intranet Site for comments. The final
> output will be presented to the Caribbean Hotel Association
> delegation for their endorsement and support during the Summit. The
> same will be presented to the Caribbean Tourism Organization for
> their endorsement and consideration as well.
>
> If you have not yet registered for the CAST TAC Intranet site, please
> do so immediately so that you may participate in these important
> discussions. If you have any difficulties or are unsure how to
> register, please contact Mabel Sanabria at msanabria@chahotels.com or
> 787-725-9166.
>
> Thank you for your assistance and we look forward to working with you
> on this valuable opportunity.
>
> Kind regards,
> Kelly Robinson
> Director
> CAST
Received on Wed May 2 16:18:21 2001