Regional Caribbean Tourism Policymakers Connect with Caribbean Political Leaders in the Diaspora
[BRIDGETOWN, Barbados] – Regional Caribbean tourism stakeholders and political leaders of Caribbean heritage in the diaspora will explore ways to help the tourism sector recover from COVID-19 in an online discussion organized by the Caribbean Tourism Organization (CTO), the region’s tourism development agency.
The forum will bring together political leaders and influencers in the United States and Britain with tourism interests in the Caribbean, as well as those who do business in the region.
Caribbean Diaspora Panelists
The panel includes Congresswoman Yvette Clarke of the 9th district of New York and Paulette Hamilton of the Birmingham City Council in the UK (both of whom are of Jamaican heritage), Dr. Mathieu Eugene, the first Haitian-born official elected to the New York City Council and Michele Jawando (Bermuda, Jamaica and St. Kitts and Nevis), a public policy expert, former general counsel and senior advisor to United States senator, Kirsten Gillibrand (D- NY) and currently head of U.S. strategic engagement and public policy partnerships at Google.
Topics of Discussion
During the hour-long discussion the panel will delve special programs or incentives that might exist for the Caribbean, how Caribbean tourism leaders can engage them to help the industry emerge from COVID-19, how Caribbean tourism leaders can work with the various local and national governments, policymakers and other institutions to build a more sustainable tourism industry and what can be done together through tourism to help improve the lives and livelihoods of the people of the Caribbean and their constituents.
The forum, dubbed Touching Base, takes place at 11:00 a.m. (10:00 a.m. New York, 3:00 p.m. UK) on Wednesday, January 13 and will be streamed on the CTO’s Facebook page.
This panel is the first in a new series of discussions organized by the CTO on various aspects of tourism, the pandemic’s impact on the industry and opportunities that lie ahead.
Other planned activities include:
- Wednesday 27 January – A discussion on how Caribbean tourism can increase business following the successful trial and distribution of COVID-19 vaccines. Panellists include representatives from the Boston Consulting Group and the World Travel and Tourism Council.
- Wednesday 10 Feb – A session to identify effective ways to package, monitise and market Caribbean culture – food, music, ancestral heritage, dance, etc – as an attractive part of the post-COVID-19 tourism strategy.
- Wednesday 24 Feb – This session will look into what we can expect from the 2021 peak season, what the travel sector needs to do to ensure the public has the confidence to book and whether we’ve seen the end of the traditional tourism peak.
