Tourism playing vital role

Secretary General of the Caribbean Tourism Organisation (CTO) Hugh Riley believes that if Caribbean
people are the most tourism-dependent in the world, then they must care more.

“We must pay attention to the sustainability of this industry, the training and motivation of our staff, the engagement and sense of ownership of our people, the safety and security of our citizens and guests, the quality of the experience we deliver, and certainly the reliability of the information upon which we
base our decisions,” he said.

Hugh Riley, Secretary General of the
Caribbean Tourism Organisation (CTO).

He was at the time addressing the opening of the Tourism Satellite Accounts (TSA) Regional Technical Coordinating Committee Meeting, held on Thursday, March 21 at the CTO’s Headquarters at the Baobab Towers in Warrens, St. Michael, Barbados.

The CTO Head acknowledged that the Caribbean is the most tourism-dependent region in the world, with that sector employing a larger percentage of the population, and representing a greater proportion of GDP than in any other region of the world.

He revealed that last year the Caribbean welcomed more than 25 million stay-over arrivals and 19.5 million cruise passengers who spent in total US$28.8 billion in the region, a figure which he expressed is thankfully continuing to rise despite the ongoing challenges.

“Estimates of direct employment of Caribbean people in the regional tourism sector are placed as high as three million. So clearly, our region’s dependency on this very dynamic, highly competitive, extremely challenging business is not casual. In fact, this is essentially our livelihood.”

Mr. Riley went on to point out that the two-day High-Level meeting was a result of the CTO signing an agreement with the Inter-American Development Bank (IADB) in March 2011 to execute the Regional Tourism Satellite Account Implementation Initiative.

He further explained that the TSA is a globally accepted, conceptual framework, developed by the United Nations World Tourism Organisation (UNWTO) for measuring the direct contribution of the tourism sector to the economy.

“Imagine for a moment the strength of conviction with which we would go about our business, if we always had at our disposal the factual information we need. For example, the number of visitors it takes to contribute one more job in the tourism industry in each of our countries; or the contribution tourism makes to the number of beds in hospitals, or computers in schools; or even the contribution a single visitor makes when he or she returns to our region 25 times,” Riley stated. (TL)