Havana’s Conference on Sustainable Tourism Development Called on Entrepreneurial Consciousness

The Sixth Conference on Sustainable Tourism Development, that came to a successful close last weekend at the Havana Libre-Tryp Hotel, helped bring home the need to preserve the environment alongside the promotion of the leisure industry.

Under a slogan reading “Keeping the Right Balance: An Encounter between the Land and the Sea,” some 200 delegates –including tourism ministers and experts from the region- huddled from April 27 through 30 in Havana with the presence of Gabor Vereczi, chief of the Sustainable Tourism Development Program of the World Tourism Organization (WTO).

Physical Planning was the opening topic of discussion in which attendants tried to strike a balance between development on the ground and preservation under the sea. This issue counted on presentations by a number of Cuban experts.

Integrated Planning came next and in this particular matter experts agreed that should be a key tool in achieving sustainable development at its best. A standout paper on this topic was presented by Dr. Atherton Martin, executive director of the Dominique Development Institute.

The conference was seen as “a window of opportunity for interest groups to learn about the past, to build the present and plan the future,” organizers of the event indicated.

The meeting provided the basis for fruitful exchanges on both achievements and drawbacks faced by each and every country in the region in making their own initiatives on a regional and global scope. At the same time, the powwow offered ways and forms to be adopted by the WTO and ACS member states in designing and implementing both policies and programs.

Alongside the annual conference, attendants held lectures and workshops, technical visits and a grand tour around Old Havana in order to take a firsthand look at the restoration project of the Historic Center of the island nation’s capital.

In the same breath, participants conducted visits to the Terrazas in Sierra del Rosario to see the sustainability concept developed in that gorgeous location of the Pinar del Rio province. Also in Cuba’s westernmost province, attendants feasted their eyes on beautiful Viñales Valley and were briefed on this area’s prospects for sustainable tourism.

The agenda also included a trip to breathtaking Varadero Beach, some 89 miles east of Havana, for visitors to take a glimpse at some of the programs developed there over the last decade.

During the closing ceremony, attendants heard a presentation by Trinidad & Tobago, the host country for next year’s Annual Caribbean Conference on Sustainable Tourism.