STC-12 Homes in on Sustainable Development for the Region’s Travel Industry

STC-12 Homes in on Sustainable Development for the Region’s Travel Industry

The 12th edition of the Caribbean Conference on Sustainable Development and Tourism (STC-12), that came to a close Wednesday at the Fairmon Southampton Hotel in Bermuda, focused on the importance of sustainable development for tourism as the right way to stave off poverty, create jobs and protects the region’s natural resources.

The three-day event, sponsored and planned by the Caribbean Tourism Organization (CTO) and Bermuda’s Ministry of Business Development and Tourism, brought together all major stakeholders from the regional travel industry, including representatives from both the private and public sectors, as well as high-ranking members of the Caribbean Hotel and Tourism Association (CHTA).

Under a slogan that read “Keeping the Balance: raising above the numbers”, the annual conference proved to be an outstanding conclave to assess the ongoing trends in travel and tourism in the Caribbean, as well as the perfect meeting ground to set the tone for future development in the sector on a basis of sustainability and environmental protection.

In his opening remarks to the attending delegates, CTO Secretary General Hugh Riley underscored the importance of this event for the analysis of problems that hit all citizens in the Caribbean. According to Mr. Riley, there’s a need to find ways to eliminate, or at least minimize, the threats that hang on the region’s tourism in times of economic crisis.

“We are not alone, because we are not here to tackle problems that are peculiar to the public sector or to the private sector; we’re here to tackle problems that affect us ALL, and we’re doing it together.” Hugh Riley, CTO Secretary General.

Another keynote speaker at the event, Bermuda’s Minister of Business Development and Tourism, Patrice K. Minors, highlighted the significance of sustainable tourism for the Caribbean nations in the face of increasingly fragile natural resources that are being threatened by the development of tourism, a threat that also reaches out to the region’s historic and cultural values.

“I believe that we must consider all aspects of tourism social, economic, environmental and human. It is no secret that very elements that attract tourists to a destination often make them more vulnerable to the pressures of tourism,” Minors said.