ST. LUCIA – A $60 million (US) annual marketing campaign has been proposed by the Caribbean Community’s (CARICOM) Tourism Ministers to aid the regional industry.
Agreement to forge ahead with the campaign came at a Special Meeting of the CARICOM Council for Trade and Economic Development (COTED) on Tourism and Transportation held in Trinidad and Tobago recently.
An analysis to determine a detailed marketing plan and budget presentation is to be completed shortly and collection of funds for the campaign should begin in the first quarter of 2009.
The funds for the campaign are to be managed by the Caribbean Tourism Development Corporation (CTDC) which is jointly owned by the Caribbean Tourism Organisation (CTO) and the Caribbean Hotel and Tourism Association (CHTA). Cruise lines and non-CARICOM CTO members are being asked to contribute to the fund.
The Tourism Ministers’ meeting was a follow-up to the special one-day session on Tourism during the Twenty-Ninth Meeting of the Conference of Heads of Government of CARICOM held in St. John’s, Antigua and Barbuda July 1-4, 2008. At that session the Heads of Government agreed to the strategy of promoting the Region as a single destination to capitalize on emerging tourism markets. The Heads of Government requested the Ministers to examine the issues related to the marketing campaign.
The decision to find a way forward for the region’s tourism industry was taken against the background of competition from other destinations, the price hike in fuel, and cutbacks by airlines servicing the region.
The Special COTED Meeting held September 16-18, 2008 also gave several mandates to the CARICOM Secretariat which included following-up with the CTO and the CHTA towards completion of the marketing plan analysis. That plan is to be considered at a Special Meeting of the COTED on Tourism scheduled for late October. The cruise lines and non-CARICOM CTO members are to state at that meeting whether they would commit to the requested contributions.
The meeting agreed that Special Meetings of the COTED on Tourism would fulfill the purposes of a CARICOM Ministerial organ on Tourism. They also agreed that such forums would be convened annually ahead of Meetings of the Heads of Government.
With regard to transportation, several agencies and community bodies including airport authorities, customs and immigration, and the Caribbean Aviation Safety and Security Oversight System (CASSOS), have been given the responsibility of ensuring facilitation of intra-regional travel and multi-destination tourism among CARICOM Member States.
The COTED has also mandated CASSOS to undertake a study on the benefits of the establishment of a single air space in the Caribbean region similar to what obtained during the Cricket World Cup 2007.
