(CARICOM Secretariat, Turkeyen, Greater Georgetown, Guyana) Caribbean countries have assured European tour operators that measures will be implemented to make the process of issuing the CARICOM Special Visa more convenient for their clients.

Chair of the CARICOM Sub Committee for Cricket World Cup, Security, Honourable Mia Mottley, Deputy Prime Minister of Barbados made the promise when she addressed tour operators and other officials in the travel trade at a special forum in Aruba on Sunday January 14, 2007. The occasion was the annual Caribbean Hotel Association trade show, Marketplace.

“We cannot roll back on the visa but we must deal with the issue of how to make the process more convenient for you. We want to protect your investment. We are sensitive to your problem and we want to find solutions. In fact, we will find solutions,” the Deputy Prime Minister emphasised.

“We have heard your calls and we are sensitive to them. We do not want to offend you; we do not want to lose any business. But we have a responsibility to you as tour operators and many of you are, in fact, investors,” she added.

Many tour operators have expressed concerns about the process for issuing the CARICOM Special Visa which is required for entry in the Single Domestic Space that was created by 10 Caribbean countries for the hosting of Cricket World Cup 2007. The Single Domestic Space will be in operation for the period 1 February to 15 May 2007.

“We can empathise in terms of how some people feel about now having to get a visa. But in the context of having to host a global sporting event, we need to deal with what we have and that is the viability of Caribbean states to maintain themselves as a zone of peace. The ultimate solution has to be national and not simply sectoral,” the Deputy Prime Minister stressed.

She also suggested that with the CARICOM Special Visa, tour operators could use the opportunity it poses for Multi-Destination marketing, long talked about as viable for the Caribbean given the diversity of the islands.

Details on the CARICOM Special Visa are available from www.caricomvisa.com or www.caricomimpacs.org .