The former Director General of the Ministry of Tourism and the current Secretary General of the Caribbean Tourism Organization is urging tourism professionals to become more aggressive in their promotion of the Caribbean region.
Secretary General of the Caribbean Tourism Organization Vincent Vanderpool-Wallace urged smaller countries in the region to adopt the best models for tourism rather than reinventing the wheel.
Vincent Vanderpool-Wallace said he wanted the industry to surpass the projections outlined by the World Travel and Tourism Council for the next 10 years by changing the status quo.
“We need to be on the offensive rather on the defensive,” he said.
“In many cases you see the Caribbean being mentioned where we have to react to something. There are so many positive things happening in the Caribbean all the time-that we want to begin to collate the information and constantly put it out to the world because we think once that story gets told we will find ourselves in a much better position.”
He made the declaration as he outlined planned changes for the next 12 months. One of the proposals is to incorporate more technology.
“We think that the next great leap forward in terms of benefit and value to Caribbean tourism is-the digital dividend where we are incorporating a lot of the advances in technology into tourism so that we can deliver more benefits to our people at an ever reducing cost,” he said.
In a comprehensive regional report for the Caribbean, the WTTC called this area the most tourism intensive region in the world whose significant contributions should not be underestimated.
It also said the region’s potential for growth should not be taken for granted.
The recommendation was to ensure the long-term sustainable development of Caribbean Travel & Tourism, with maximum benefits for all stakeholders through an increased awareness of the industry’s contribution to the regional, national and local economies with government officials and the broader general public so as to help raise the level of support for the industry to that which it deserves.
At the recent Caribbean Tourism Conference, Mr. Vanderpool- Wallace outlined plans for a business development unit, a single consumer website complete with E-Commerce opportunities and enhanced research.
He also spoke enthusiastically about Caribbean trade and consumer shows and more involvement of the Diaspora. The Harvard graduate urged smaller countries in the region to adopt the best models rather than reinventing the wheel.
According to the Ministry of Tourism’s last report in the month of August alone, there were 374,598 foreign visitors and transit arrivals to The Bahamas excluding ship crews, diplomatic personnel and returning residents.
For the first eight months of the year, there were 3.4 million visitors who arrived in The Bahamas, a 6.9 percent decline over the same period last year.
By: Tameka Lundy, The Bahama Journal
