CTO focusing on TSAs

THE Caribbean Tourism Organisation (CTO) is charting the way forward in establishing and maintaining a well co-ordinated system of Tourism Satellite Accounts (TSAs) in the Caribbean.

The objective of the TSAs is to help strengthen the capacities of the governments to assess the
impact of tourism on the Caribbean economies through accurate and timely provision of information, revealed Marisko Russell, Team Leader of the Inter-American Development Bank (IADB).

Marisko Russell, Team Leader of the Inter-American Development
Bank (IADB), addressing the TSA Regional Technical Co-ordinating
Committee High-Level Meeting, on Thursday, March 21, at the
Caribbean Tourism Organisation (CTO) headquarters.

She was addressing the opening of the TSA Regional Technical Co-ordinating Committee High-Level Meeting, “Harmonising Regional Statistics through Tourism Satellite Accounts”, held at the CTO’s Headquarters, Baobab Towers, Warrens, St. Michael, Barbados, last week Thursday.

“This will be pursued through the development of a harmonised methodological and institutional framework that allows the collection, organisation, reporting and use of the statistical data necessary for preparing the TSA per UNWTO recommendations.”

According to the IADB representative, the emphasis is on building sustainable technical and institutional environment for continuous construction of TSA.

“Equally, or even more important, is the use of the information TSA provides. Each country needs to start making a strategy for weaving the TSA in the high-level decision-making mechanism of the public and private sector, such as through investment, human resources allocation, positioning in the long- and medium-term development plans, etc.”

Barbados’ Parliamentary Secretary in the Ministry of Tourism and International Transport, Senator Irene Sandiford-Garner, expressed that such an initiative provides a platform for obtaining timely, valuable and accurate data for strategic planning.

“In particular, the TSA has now become one of the most sought after information systems used by tourism planners, investors and other tourism stakeholders globally,” she acknowledged.

The senator added that the participation of regional and international organisations, such as the University of the West Indies, CARICOM, Organisation of Eastern Caribbean States (OECS), Inter-American Development Bank (IADB) and United Nations World Tourism Organisation (UNWTO), is testimony to the seriousness to tackle the underlying challenges of consolidating tourism information systems, and improving standards in a co-ordinating way. (TL)