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OECS
Tourism Ministers reflect on options for reducing airfares
and enhancing the sector |
 Castries,
St. Lucia, December 3rd 2007:- OECS Tourism Ministers
are considering short and medium term measures to address
declining visitor arrivals believed to have resulted from
the increase in regional airfares. This is among the
conclusions of a recent meeting in Montserrat.
The Ministers have pointed out that the increase in airfares
has resulted in significant reduction in Caribbean business
into the OECS and that this situation requires urgent
attention. The declines in visitor arrivals in the OECS were
most significant in St. Lucia and St Vincent and the
Grenadines.
In the short term the Ministers have recommended that the
appropriate authorities in each Member State engage in
dialogue with regional air carriers to determine the scope
for entering into arrangements that could reduce the cost of
airfares to OECS Member States. The Tourism Ministers
concluded that the high cost of air travel in the Caribbean
was structurally determined and therefore suggested that it
was difficult for carriers to offer a reliable and
affordable air service without some support from the
governments of the region. |
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It was decided
that a recent agreement by Caricom Ministers of Tourism and
Civil aviation arrived at in San Juan on October 19th, known
as the San Juan Accord will serve as the framework for any
action that OECS Member States might wish to consider over
the medium term, towards a solution to regional air
transportation challenges.
The 6th meeting of OECS Ministers of Tourism also looked at
the status of hospitality training and stressed the need for
collaborative approaches to ensure that all training
undertaken conforms to comparable international standards.
They agreed that all training institutions should be
appropriately accredited and recognized across the entire
Caribbean region. This will facilitate the easy movement of
training providers across the OECS to undertake the training
of new entrants in particular into the tourism and
hospitality industry, as and when required.
To help boost the hospitality sector the Tourism Ministers
endorsed the soon-to-be launched St Lucia/World Bank “Skills
for Inclusive Growth” project as a model for all of the
OECS.This project is based on a market-driven approach to
skills training where the hotels and other companies in
tourism apply for funding from a central pool of resources
and designate certified trainers to conduct training of new
entrants as well as existing staff in the industry. A major
feature of this approach is that hotels and other companies
involved will make counterpart contributions to the training
effort and in so doing reduce over-reliance on public funds
and contribute to the sustainability of the scheme.
Another highlight of the OECS Tourism Ministers meeting was
discussions held on the urgency to expand linkages between
agriculture and tourism, in response to a presentation made
by a representative of the Inter American Institution for
Corporation in Agriculture (IICA) on the Caribbean
Agro-Tourism Strategy 2007-2017.
On this matter the Ministers underscored the need for the
OECS member countries to deepen their relationship with IICA,
as a means of securing maximum benefits for the OECS by way
of technical assistance, advice and capacity building, in
forging greater linkages between Agriculture and Tourism.
The delegates further noted the importance of collaboration
between the IICA and Chambers of Agriculture being
established in the OECS, in order to achieve the
institutional link required for sustainability.
Rodinald Soomer, Head of the Macro Economic Policy Unit at
the OECS Secretariat commented that the 6th meeting of the
OECS Ministers of Tourism was very important as it explored
crucial areas of collaboration: “The Ministers left the
meeting with a feeling of comfort and the assurance that
there was renewed commitment to collaborate to the mutual
benefit of all OECS Member States.” The OECS Secretariat is
coordinating the presentation of recommendations by the
Ministers of Tourism to the OECS Authority which is the
highest decision making body in the OECS.
Photos provided by Wayne Fenton |
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