Sustainable Tourism

 

The relevance of the tourism sector to the Caribbean cannot be overstated.  Tourism represents over 30% of the Caribbean's GDP, and is heavily dependent on the region's natural beauty, namely sandy beaches and coral reefs.  Both of these elements are threatened by environmental and social impacts.  For this reason, efforts for promoting tourism that preserves these elements for the future have become very important to the region.  

There are a few programs that are addressing the status of information for sustainable tourism in the Caribbean.  For the most part, statistics on tourism activities have been economic in nature.  Only more recently have efforts begun to qualify and monitor the impacts of tourism on the environment.  Thus, in recognition of the pressing need to proactively manage resources and address these concerns for sustainable development, the Caribbean Hotel Association Environmental Committee was established in 1992.  In order to create an effective mechanism that would institutionalize environmental activities throughout the region, the Caribbean Alliance for Sustainable Tourism (CAST) was created three years later.

Among other efforts, CAST has implemented a project jointly with the Caribbean Tourism Organization (CTO) known as the Blue Flag Program, which rates the environmental quality of beaches in the region, and seeks to develop sustainable development indicators on tourism.

The OAS Intersectoral Unit for Tourism has developed the Inter-American Program for the Development of Sustainable Tourism, one of whose objectives is the building of capacity for the exchange of information on sustainable tourism. OAS is also engaged in several efforts for developing tourism statistics databases. 

However, the status of information on sustainable tourism remains at a developmental stage. The CTO and the Association of Caribbean States have plans to develop databases with sustainable development indicators and listing of projects in the area, but have encountered difficulties in finding standardized information. Additionally, there are no funds set aside for the periodic collection of sustainable development statistics, nor is there a special program within governmental institutions for this type of effort. Sustainable development statistics are only generated through agreements between governmental institutions and other agencies.

CTO and CAST are piloting MIST, the Management Information System for Tourism. MIST incorporates economic and tourism statistics, including information not generated by the Ministry of Tourism, but it does not support environmental data management, nor provides any links with the natural resource base for tourism. However, it is a system that has the potential for development into an authentic integrated resources management system.

 

LINKS TO WEBSITES WITH RELEVANT SUSTAINABLE TOURISM INFORMATION

 

TSA In Depth: Analysing Tourism As An Economic Activity
This document was designed as a course to explain the Tourism Satellite Account (TSA), based on the experience accumulated in the course of the seven regional seminars held by the World Tourism Organization (WTO) between May 2000 and October 2001. During this period a series of informative actions in the different regions of the Organization was completed. These were aimed at explaining the basic principles of the TSA and its usefulness as a tool for obtaining reliable data that should put the tourism sector on equal footing with other economic sectors with regard to the analysis of its economic activity.
 http://www.world-tourism.org/statistics/tsa_project/TSA_in_depth/index.htm

 

Caribbean Environmental Network Program (CEN)

United Nations Environmental Programme - Caribbean Regional Coordinating Unit

This webpage describes the CEN program as part of UNEP's sustainable tourism initiatives. The goal of the CEN Project is to improve environmental quality and coastal and marine natural resource protection in the Wider Caribbean Region, by promoting the use of environmentally sound practices by the tourism industry. The webpage also provides access to downloadable documents describing methodologies and best practices in sustainable tourism that resulted from the implementation of CEN. http://www.cep.unep.org/issues/tourism.htm

 

Climate Change and Tourism

The First International Conference on Climate Change and Tourism was held successfully in Djerba, Tunisia, from 9 to 11 April 2003. The Djerba Declaration on Climate Change and Tourism, as well as the final conference programme are available in the Internet, while the complete final report with the conclusions and the documents presented will be posted at: http://www.world-tourism.org/frameset/frame_sustainable.html

 

Convention on Biological Diversity - Biological Diversity and Tourism

Provides guidelines for the sustainable planning and management of tourism activities in vulnerable terrestrial, marine and coastal ecosystems and habitats of major importance for biological diversity. http://www.biodiv.org/programmes/socio-eco/tourism/

 

Coastal Tourism in the Wider Caribbean Region: Impacts and Best Management Practices

United Nations Environmental Program

Caribbean Environmental Program

This report summarizes the nature and causes of coastal resources degradation, the contribution of the tourist industry to that degradation, the role of system planning in addressing such impacts, and the possible best management practices which can be employed by industry participants to reduce the impacts of tourism on coastal and marine resources. These best management practices include both planning and operational aspects of tourism facilities.
 http://www.cep.unep.org/pubs/techreports/tr38en/index.html

 

European Charter for Sustainable Tourism in Protected Areas

Provides standards and guidelines for sustainable tourism in protected areas. Responds to the appeal issued by the 1995 World Conference on Sustainable Tourism held in Lanzarote recommending the urgent establishment of action programmes for sustainable development in the tourism sector. http://www.eco-tour.org/info/w_10168_de.html

 

United Nations Environmental Programme Principles of Sustainable Tourism

Discusses policy concepts and guidelines for applying the concepts of sustainable tourism, including: integration of tourism into overall policy for sustainable development, development of sustainable tourism, management of tourism, and conditions for success. http://www.uneptie.org/pc/tourism/policy/principles.htm

 

United Nations Environmental Programme Sustainable Tourism

Facts, links to documents, and discussion of concepts and impacts of sustainable tourism. http://www.uneptie.org/pc/tourism/sust-tourism/home.htm

 

World Tourism Organization (WTO) Sustainable Development of Tourism

The website contains information on activities and documents relating to sustainable tourism, including manuals on best practices. http://www.world-tourism.org/frameset/frame_sustainable.html

 

Institute for Policy Studies

http://www.world-tourism.org/frameset/frame_sustainable.html 

 

International Network for the Sustainable Development of Coastal Tourism Destinations

An open system for comments, suggestions and contributions. http://www.world-tourism.org/sustainable/coastalnetwork 

 

Centre for Ecotourism and Sustainable Development 

A joint Program of Stanford University and Institute for Policy Studies http://www.ecotourism.org 

 

CTOnet Caribbean

CTOnet Caribbean or OneCaribbean, the official intranet community of the Caribbean Tourism Organisation (CTO), is dedicated to keeping it's members and other interested tourism professionals up to date with developments in the region's tourism industry.  http://www.onecaribbean.org/information/documentview.php?rowid=571

http://www.onecaribbean.org/information/categorybrowse.php?categoryid=335

 

Statistics on Tourism in the Caribbean

Number of arrivals

 

 

 

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This page was last updated on Wednesday, December 03, 2003