PREPARATIONS are well underway for the hosting of the 14th Annual Sustainable Tourism Conference from the 15th- 18th April in Trinidad and Tobago, under the theme “Keeping the Right Balance: Enhancing Destination Sustainability through Products, Partnerships, Profitability”.

Sustainable Tourism Product Specialist of the Caribbean Tourism Organisation (CTO), Gail Henry made this assessment in a recent update to the media via Skype from the CTO office, Barbados.
According to her, the CTO has been working very closely with the Ministry of Tourism in Trinidad and Tobago in planning the conference which will he hosted at the Hyatt Regency Hotel in Port of Spain.
She said that registration has been picking up over the past few weeks, and as is customary, locals tend to register very late so they expect the registration for this group to pickup in the coming days.
Henry noted that there will be a mix of speakers from across the local, regional and international arena, who will discuss very critical topics for the region.
Branding and Marketing
She said further that among the topics to be discussed are the branding and marketing of the respective Caribbean destinations to attract responsible travelers, and how to create and manage sustainable tourism destinations in the Caribbean.
According to her, there will also be panel discussions focusing on showcasing good practices in tourism sustainability around the Caribbean region, linkages between agriculture and tourism, and the role of the private sector in tourism sustainability.
The CTO specialist also noted that workshop sessions will also be held with local and international speakers on how to enhance multi- stakeholder partnerships to help in the accomplishment of tourism sustainability.
Additionally, there will also be a youth forum, which will include the performance of skits focusing on different aspects of tourism sustainability.
Meanwhile, also speaking to the media, Secretary General of the CTO, Hugh Riley, said that the theme of this year’s conference really helps to explain what they’re trying to achieve.
He opined that whereas in the past the whole issue of sustainability was entirely focused on the business of the environment, this has been expanded to include everything that threatens the sustainability of the tourism industry.
Riley added that sustainability isn’t just about academics – it’s about anyone that’s a part of the tourism industry.
The challenges in hosting this conference, he explained, continues to be their ability to secure the participation of everyone they would like, which has to do with their ability to market the conference effectively that everyone understands that it relates to them.
Highlighting the pride persons have in the diversity of the Caribbean region, Riley said that this conference is different every time around, merely because it is hosted in different territories.
According to him, the suitability to host this conference is based on factors such as economics, accessibility and product suitability.
He pointed out that Trinidad and Tobago, which is hosting the conference for the second time, has an incredibly suitable product for this kind of discussion.
Meanwhile, Riley extended gratitude to the government and people of Trinidad and Tobago, as well as the local and regional media for their support.
Last year, this conference was hosted in Guyana, and other countries that have hosted the conference include Barbados, Trinidad and Tobago, Bermuda, Cayman Islands, Suriname and St. Kitts and Nevis.
This conference is a part of the information dissemination and regional awareness component of the organisation’s Strategy for Sustainable Tourism.
It looks at how member states can design and implement sustainable tourism policies and programmes, and offers a regional forum for information exchange on the successes and pitfalls of national, regional and international initiatives.
The conference also provides a primary arena where new and creative ideas about enhancing the competitiveness and sustainability of the Caribbean tourism product are generated.