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Background

At the Fourth Summit of Heads of State and/or Government of the Association of Caribbean States (ACS), held in Panama City on July 29th, 2005, regional leaders issued the Declaration of Panama where they recognised the tourism sector as “one of the most important sources of foreign direct investment and foreign exchange earnings, and a significant provider of employment in the region”.

At that meeting they “decided that the Ministers or the highest tourism authorities of ACS Members, in the framework of the Special Committee on Sustainable Tourism and in conjunction with the specialised organisations in the Greater Caribbean, should convene a meeting during the first half of 2006, during which experiences would be exchanged and proposals and alternatives regarding public tourism policies would be examined, especially those associated with cruise ships, so that the possibilities of this type of tourism providing a greater contribution to the sustainable development of the sector in countries within the zone can be evaluated”.

Hosted by the Republic of Cuba, the First Meeting of Ministers of Tourism of the Greater Caribbean (TMM-1) took place in Havana on October 19th, 2006. The mandates of this first forum of regional tourism leaders were compiled in the Declaration of Havana on Tourism in the Greater Caribbean. The Declaration covered not only the aspects related to the ACS Work Programme on Sustainable Tourism, but also urgent matters affecting the region tourism industry.  In summary this Declaration called for:

• Ratification of the Convention Establishing the Sustainable Tourism Zone of the Caribbean (STZC) and its Protocol as well as active participation in establishing the STZC.
• Support to training initiatives and provision of adequate financial resources
• Policy level initiatives for dissemination of languages and support ACS project to establish a Centre for the Promotion of Languages and Culture (CPLC)
• Support ACS Tourist Safety and Security initiatives and commitment to hold internal consultations on the Regional Network on Tourist Safety and Security (RNTSS)
• Multi-Destination Tourism a significant component of stakeholders’ marketing strategies
• Noted and agreed to study main findings of the Forum of Airlines and Tourism Executives
• ACS to work in co-ordination with the Caribbean Tourism Organisation (CTO) and the Caribbean Hotel Association (CHA)
• Review decisions taken on Cruise Tourism impact on land-based and yacht tourism as significant pillars of tourism economy
• Tourism development objectives to focus on increasing tourism earnings and employment and not only on maximizing visitor arrivals
• Support a study to evaluate the economic impact of Cruise Tourism in the Greater Caribbean
• Consider the possibility to establish an Association of Caribbean Cruise Ship Destinations;

In Havana, the Ministers also agreed to analyse the proposal to institutionalise the ACS Tourism Ministerial Meeting on a biennial basis.

On January 27th, 2007, at its 12th Ordinary Meeting held in Guatemala City, the ACS Ministerial Council approved the Agreement No 11/07 “Institutionalising the Declaration of Havana Emanating from the 1st ACS Tourism Ministerial Meeting, Havana, Cuba, 19th October, 2006”. This Agreement established the Declaration of Havana as the ACS Sustainable Tourism institutional framework and instructed the Special Committee on Sustainable Tourism to apply the Declaration as the benchmark for the attainment of the region’s sustainable tourism goals, to monitor its implementation and to keep ACS Ministerial Council informed.

At the 14th Ordinary Meeting of the ACS Ministerial Council held in Port-au-Prince, Haiti, on January 30th, 2009, the Republic of Colombia presented its generous offer to host the 2nd ACS Tourism Ministerial Meeting (TMM-2) in the city of Barranquilla. The convening of the TMM-2 was approved by the Council in the Agreement No 08/09.  On February 13th, 2009, the Republic of Colombia confirmed the dates of April 23rd to 25th, 2009 for the hosting of the 20th Meeting of the Special Committee on Sustainable Tourism (SCST-20) and the TMM-2.

Preparation for TMM-2

After TMM-1, the Secretariat embarked in a series of follow-up actions to monitor the implementation of the Declaration of Havana.

Through the Special Committee on Sustainable Tourism, ACS States and Associate Members agreed to convene this meeting understating its importance as a political platform to discuss the impact of important global developments such as food security, air accessibility and climate change on the regional tourism industry. Ministers of Tourism are envisioned to put forward strategic alliances in the areas of tourism and trade, transport and the environment, as well as regional initiatives on product diversification and community involvement in order to ensure the sustainability of this important source of foreign revenue for the Greater Caribbean.

The possible agenda items for the TMM-2 were first considered at the 18th Meeting of the Special Committee on Sustainable Tourism (SCTS-18) held in The Bahamas in December 2007 and finalised at the 19th Meeting of the Special Committee on Sustainable Tourism (SCTS-19) in Port of Spain, Trinidad and Tobago, in June 2008.

In defining the Agenda for TMM-2, the SCST-19 recommended:

• To focus on critical issues that can have an impact on Ministers of Tourism portfolios;
• To build up on the mandate of the TMM-1: The Havana Declaration, considering the follow up given by the Secretariat and Member countries;
• To involve the leading regional agencies in the preparation and presentation of the issues being addressed by these organisations in order to avoid duplication of efforts.

Regarding additional issues to be included, the meeting identified the following issues, mainly focused on securing the stability of the Greater Caribbean tourism industry:

• Food Security: Identification of partnership and development of alliances between tourism and trade sectors.
• Regional accessibility from the markets and intraregional: The development of alternative transportation services to respond to the international air transportation crisis due to high oil prices.
• Community involvement and human resource development: The involvement of the community in tourism destinations, particularly youth, through training in the tourism industry.
• Climate Change and its impact on the tourism industry: The region’s mitigation response, both locally and in the markets.
• Product diversification as a mechanism to sustain the Greater Caribbean tourism market share.

The meeting was held at the Museum of the Caribbean of the recently developed Caribbean Cultural Park of Barranquilla. For more information on Barranquilla and Colombia, please visit:

www.colombia.travel/es/turista-internacional/destino/barranquilla
www.turismocolombia.com
www.comixto.com
www.carnavaldebarranquilla.org

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