Official Photo from the II Meeting of Ministers of Tourism of the Greater Caribbean, Barranquilla, Colombia, 24 April 2009

Port of Spain (May 8, 2009) –  Association of Caribbean States (ACS) Ministers of Tourism and their representatives agreed on 24 April 2009 to make the Greater Caribbean region the first Sustainable Tourism Zone in the world.  This was one of the major conclusions from the 2nd Meeting of Ministers of Tourism of the Greater Caribbean, which is contained in the Declaration of Barranquilla.

The President of the Republic of Colombia, His Excellency Dr. Álvaro Uribe Vélez addressed the meeting during the Opening Ceremony and expressed his satisfaction with the organisation of the meeting in his country and acknowledged the presence of the Ministers and delegations.

ACS Secretary General, Ambassador Luis Fernando Andrade Falla also addressed the gathering and emphasised that tourism is fundamental to the majority of countries in the Greater Caribbean region and a common front is needed in order to cope with the effects of the global economic crisis and climate change.

The 2nd Meeting of Ministers of Tourism of the Greater Caribbean was held under the chairmanship of the Minister of Trade, Industry and Tourism of Colombia, Mr. Luis Guillermo Plata Páez.  Ministers of Tourism and high-level officials from ACS Members and Associate Members participated in the meeting. Special mention is made of the Honourable Arq. Patrick Delatour, Minister of Tourism of Haiti who chaired the 2nd Preparatory Meeting of the 2nd Meeting of Ministers of Tourism on 23 April in his capacity as Chairman of the ACS Special Committee on Sustainable Tourism. Also present were experts from the Inter-American Institute for Cooperation on Agriculture (IICA), Caribbean Disaster Emergency Response Agency (CDERA), and the University of Oxford.

In addition to the importance of the establishment of the Sustainable Tourism Zone of the Caribbean (STZC), the Declaration of Barranquilla also includes the setting up of an ad hoc working group in order to further develop the concept of an Association of Caribbean Cruise Ship Destinations.

Nicaragua has offered to host the first meeting (which will take place in Nicaragua) no later than the last quarter of 2009 and this initiative was supported by other countries present.

The Declaration also mentioned the other major areas currently under implementation by the ACS – the Promotion of Multidestination Tourism, Promotion of the Languages and Cultures of the Greater Caribbean, and the Establishment of the Regional Tourist Safety and Security Network.

The Declaration recognized that recent international developments such as the global financial and economic crisis, food security, regional accessibility and climate change directly or indirectly affect the regional tourism sector and therefore require urgent coordination and collaborative efforts with other regional and international agencies to identify strategic solutions from a Greater Caribbean perspective.

The 2nd Meeting of Tourism Ministers was convened and organised in collaboration with the Government of Colombia to identify Wider Caribbean solutions for the tourism industry, one of the most important economic activities of the region.  The 1st Meeting was held in Havana, Cuba on 19 October, 2006.