BRITAIN PRESERVES CARIBBEAN PARADISE Two Anguillians At Tourism Workshop

The Special Assistant for Tourism, in the Chief Minister’s Office, Donna Banks, and Chairman of the Tourist Board, John Benjamin, are in London attending a two-day Policy Workshop on Caribbean Tourism.

The November 6-7 workshop is sponsored by the Foreign and Commonwealth Office. In opening the workshop Under Secretary of State Bill Rammell said: “This conference comes at an important time for the Caribbean. The major threats of terrorism, natural disaster and globalised crime networks render small vulnerable societies, such as those in the Caribbean, particularly at risk. Discussing policy measures to address those challenges could not be more timely.

“Britain, an old friend of the Caribbean, is offering to support the communities practically, to sustain their economies.

“Firstly, Britain has just signed a bilateral agreement with UNESCO to help preserve World Heritage sites, making the Caribbean its top priority.”

The aim of the workshop is to explore and identify a number of challenges facing the regional tourism industry of interest to policy-makers in the United Kingdom, the European Community and the Caribbean.

These challenges include the extent to which the industry can be an engine for sustainable development in the region; ways in which tourism might be made more central to the UK/Caribbean and European Union/Caribbean dialogue; how the interests of the Caribbean tourism industry might best be advanced in forthcoming ACP/EU trade negotiations and in the World Trade Organisation services negotiations; the threats to and opportunities for the industry arising from the global threat of terrorism; and ways in which standards of environmental, public health and socially sustainable practices can be developed in the tourism sector.

According to a Foreign and Commonwealth Office statement on the workshop, it is recognised that there are no easy solutions to the challenges facing the industry in the region. It was hoped that the workshop could begin the process of forging a consensus on the need to address tourism policy issues.
“These issues should be addressed in a manner that brings about a greater awareness among ministers, senior officials, negotiators, aid donors and others of the central role of tourism in Caribbean development,” the statement said.