Caricom Heads have agreed to devote one day to a special session on tourism during their 29th annual Conference of Heads of Government to be held in Antigua and Barbuda in July.
They took the decision at the just concluded inter-sessional meeting in the Bahamas over the weekend where they also agreed that tourism would be included as a permanent item on the conference agenda.
In the past there had been concerns expressed by the Caribbean Tourism Organisation, the Caribbean Hospitality Association and some Caricom member states at the tourism sector, deemed in most Caribbean islands as the economic mainstay, being left off the agenda in spite of critical issues affecting it.
The sector continues to be plagued by recurring natural disasters, mainly hurricanes, and in recent years, terrorist actions which have caused, as in the case of the USA, the compulsory use of passports by its own nationals in international travel. Prior to this, US nationals could have travelled using limited identification including drivers’ licences.
