Aviation committee calls for region-wide meeting

IT HAS been recommended that within the first few weeks of the New Year a meeting between airline and airport operators be held and that a region-wide meeting of transportation ministers and commissioners take place during the first quarter.

These are just two of the many recommendations made by the Caribbean Tourism Organisation’s (CTO) Aviation Committee, coming out of the inaugural meeting of the CTO Aviation Task Force, which took place recently at the regional tourism development agency’s headquarters.

It was at that time the recently appointed CTO Chairman, the USVI Tourism Commissioner Beverly Nicholson-Doty, reported a successful inaugural meeting which discussed the cost of intra-regional travel, the economic impact of the declines in travel, improving the ease of passenger movement, and launching actions to improve the efficiency of Caribbean aviation.

“We had an excellent first meeting and we are confident that CTO’s leadership in this area will be critical to reviving growth in intra-regional travel, which has declined seriously in recent years,” the CTO chairman said.

Another key item addressed was American Eagle’s possible departure from the San Juan hub in 2013 and both the opportunities and challenges this presents, especially for destinations in the Eastern Caribbean which depend on this commuter service.

The Aviation Committee discussed the San Juan Accord – a memorandum on the regional air transport sector that was agreed by CTO members in 2007 – as well as other important issues such as minimum revenue guarantees, communication among regional carriers, “open skies” agreements, government taxes and fees, fuel costs, visa restrictions, passenger security-screening arrangements, airlift capacity and the dependency of local hotels on the intra-regional market.

The composition of the Committee reflects technical, regulatory and policy-making experience and has public/private sector representation from tourism professionals, accommodations, airlines, airports and aviation consultants.

It was also revealed during the meeting that the CTO will lead a mission in the New Year to meet with top ministerial officials and technical personnel in its member countries to seek their assistance in the advancement of better intra-regional air links to help boost tourism in the region.

The meeting was jointly chaired by Commissioner Nicholson-Doty and CTO past Chairman Ricky Skerritt, Minister of Tourism and International Transport of St. Kitts and Nevis.