Crime, airlift challenges for Caribbean tourism

PORT OF SPAIN, Trinidad - Tourism, a mainstay for the majority of Caribbean economies for their foreign exchange and jobs, continues to be hit by major challenges, prompting the industry to issue an urgent call on governments to convene a summit by June to tackle key issues and ensure its long-term sustainable growth. In a resolution approved last month, the Caribbean Hotel and Tourism Association’s (CHTA) Board of Directors called for a meeting with Caribbean leaders to consider all major aspect of tourism including airlift, travel facilitation, marketing, visitor security, human resource development, the environment and new ways to encourage GDP growth through a common approach to the problems facing the industry. “Such a summit would enable the Caribbean, as the most tourism dependent region in the world, to address global competition and return to the levels of success last seen in 2006,” the CHTA said in a press release. Perry Christie, Prime minister of the Bahamas at the opening of the CHTA’s recent Marketplace event at Atlantis Resort on Paradise Island said violence, robbery and theft were menacing the tourism industry.