Industry Leaders Salute Outgoing Caribbean Tourism Chief

The appointment of a new tourism minister in the Bahamas is being hailed as a significant move for the wider Caribbean region.

The highly-regarded head of the Caribbean Tourism Organization (CTO), Vincent Vanderpool-Wallace, joins the Bahamian Senate next week as Minister of Tourism and Aviation.

“The elevation of Vanderpool-Wallace signals a determination to get the best and the brightest into the region’s most important industry,” said Lelei LeLaulu, a tourism and development specialist in Washington DC. “The region is going into one of the most critical phases of its development and the elevation of Vanderpool-Wallace signals a willingness of the political leadership to start mobilizing political will to deal with the crisis looming over the region,” he added,

“The appointment of one brilliant man will not save the region, but when he’s placed next to other dynamic leaders like Allen Chastanet of St. Lucia, Edmund Bartlett of Jamaica and Harold Lovell of Antigua and Barbuda, then you have a spearhead of ministers who can really make a difference,” he added.

Lauding the tourism leader for bringing energy, insight and a stimulating intellect to the Barbados-based regional organisation, Senator Allen Chastanet, CTO’s chairman as well as St. Lucia’s Minister of Tourism and Civil Aviation, lamented Vanderpool-Wallace’s departure, but was thankful that he will continue to make a contribution to the region as Bahamas’ Minister of Tourism and Aviation.

Vanderpool-Wallace, who took over as CTO’s Secretary General from the long-serving Barbadian Dr. Jean Holder, steps down on Monday to assume his new position in the Bahamian Senate following a cabinet reshuffle. Current tourism minister Neko Grant, who has held the portfolio of Minister of Tourism and Aviation for a little over a year, assumes the portfolio responsibility for the Ministry of Public Works and Transport.