CTO Chief Eyes Tourism as Key Development Tool

“Tourism is an economic development tool and we must broaden the traditional understanding of tourism and get our constituencies in the Caribbean to believe in its overall economic value to the people of the region,” said Vincent Vanderpool-Wallace, secretary general of the Caribbean Tourism Organization, in his opening address to the delegates of the 28th Caribbean Tourism Conference (CTC-28) that ended last week in the U.S. Virgin Islands.

“Because the Caribbean is primarily a collection of countries, there is an intuitive appreciation of our rich diversity and an expectation that our diversity is likely to persist forever. For our external audiences it is this diversity that gives the Caribbean its intrigue and value,” Mr. Vanderpool-Wallace pointed out.

“We must work hard to extinguish from our region all tourism led initiatives that do not result in increased foreign exchange, increased employment, poverty reduction, an improved reputation and stronger economic linkages. We have to speak about tourism and measure tourism success in economic terms not visitor head counts only,” he went on to say in his opening speech

Stating that CTO´s primary purpose is to own, protect, advance and enhance the global reputation and branding of the Caribbean for the economic and social benefit of all its constituents, Mr. Vanderpool-Wallace said “we envision the development of a CTO that so inspires the people of the Caribbean that we become revered globally for our intelligence, our diligence and our innovation in delivering high quality products, services and experiences.”