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The Special Committee on Sustainable Tourism seeks to ensure that destinations can attract visitors but, at the same time, do so in a way that would not harm the physical environment or the communities that surround them. These were the values enshrined in the Convention on Sustainable Tourism Zone of the Caribbean (STZC), signed at the 3rd ACS Summit in December 2001 in Margarita, Venezuela and its Protocol. The Committee's main goal now is to achieve the ratification of the Convention, which is essential to the region's efforts to develop tourism and covers such areas as cooperation among members and definition of the different types of products available. It also seeks to establish criteria for sustainable tourism destinations.

15th Meeting of the Special Committee on Sustainable Tourism

Following the signing of the STZC, the Committee will also follow through the process of implementation, coordination and perfecting of the mechanisms for identification, analysis, approval and categorisation of the tourist destination that ACS member countries propose.

The development of several projects is also high on the Sustainable Tourism Committee's agenda. One is a study of the problems facing coastal ecosystems and how these can be solved through sustainable tourism. Also in the works is a language training project for less developed countries in the Caribbean.

Another project will focus on analysis of multi-destination tourism within the region. The Committee will analyse transport as it relates to tourism. One of the aims of this will be to improve transport to help tourism, including the development of alliances among carriers. A direct fruit of this should be a forum on air transport for tourism.

The building of an Information Centre is also among the ACS Sustainable Tourism plans, as is integral technical assistance to member countries, and protecting the environment with emphasis on the Caribbean Sea.

The Committee will also be working with the Caribbean Tourism Organisation to look at tourism following the terrorist attacks on September 11, 2001. This included a conference in April 2002 in Trinidad and Tobago.

Also in the horizon is cooperation with the Pan American Health Organisation to develop a health programme in the region to analyse what can be done to foster cooperation among member states to fight problems like AIDS. The idea is that for the region to remain attractive as a tourist destination, issues of health and education must first be addressed.

The Special Committee on Sustainable Tourism meets twice a year, with two meetings of groups of technical experts

 

2nd Meeting of Ministers of Tourism of the Greater Caribbean (TMM-2)

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