Jamaica Tourism Minister Edmund Bartlett got picked to run a new Caribbean Tourism Organization committee that wants to keep more vacation cash circulating inside the region instead of leaking out to foreign companies. The group pulls in reps from Barbados, The Bahamas, Belize, Grenada, Saint Lucia, St. Vincent and the Grenadines, plus Turks and Caicos, and the whole plan centers on connecting hotels and resorts with local farms, manufacturers, and creative sectors.
Barbados Tourism Minister Ian Gooding-Edghill said member countries agreed Jamaica should lead since they already push hard on keeping tourism dollars local. Bartlett mentioned his country recovered most hotel rooms after Hurricane Melissa hit, and airport capacity bounced back past 85 percent of what it was before the storm.
The committee wants CTO staff to research how much tourist traffic different islands can actually handle without wrecking everything, and those findings will shape future recommendations for making Caribbean tourism more sustainable long-term.
Barbados Tourism Minister Ian Gooding-Edghill said member countries agreed Jamaica should lead since they already push hard on keeping tourism dollars local. Bartlett mentioned his country recovered most hotel rooms after Hurricane Melissa hit, and airport capacity bounced back past 85 percent of what it was before the storm.
The committee wants CTO staff to research how much tourist traffic different islands can actually handle without wrecking everything, and those findings will shape future recommendations for making Caribbean tourism more sustainable long-term.
