OECS Ministers of Tourism have expressed keen interest in merging resources to towards developing the region’s tourism products. This is among outcomes of a recent videoconference organised by the OECS Secretariat. 

Dr. Lorraine Nicholas, Tourism Programme Officer at the OECS Secretariat’s Economic Affairs Division says emphasis on joint product development is consistent with a decision taken by OECS Member States to move towards the establishment of an Economic Union: “Regional marketing was one of the main items on the meeting’s agenda. On this item discussions focused on the consideration of further areas in which OECS destinations could undertake joint marketing initiatives. However, in that regard the Ministers expressed very keen interest in the joint development of the tourism assets of the region. In particular they mandated the OECS Secretariat to identify a few major areas with potential for a collective approach to product development and to explore opportunities to jointly package these products such as festivals and similar events.”Nicholas says one of the key goals is to “operationalise” the concept of presenting the OECS to the rest of the world as a single shared tourism space. To this end, OECS Ministers of Tourism, as a priority, have also mandated the Secretariat to further explore the implications of a single shared space for the tourism industry in the region. The Secretariat was also asked to propose enhanced measures to facilitate ease of travel by sea and air for both OECS nationals and visitors to the islands. 

Two specific areas emphasised by the Tourism Ministers were the need to expedite the clearance of yachts visiting OECS destinations through the establishment and extension of cooperative arrangements between individual Member States, as well as the enforcement of measures to facilitate seamless travel through airports in the OECS and CARICOM: “The purpose of the meeting was to essentially discuss progress on the implementation of tourism related mandates arising from a series of policy meetings held earlier this year. This is with a view to advancing and fine tuning responses to the impact of the global, economic and financial crises on the tourism industry in the OECS.”-Nicholas. 

The Ministers requested the Secretariat to continue its work in collaboration with the Eastern Caribbean Central Bank in assessing the economic and financial crisis on the vital tourism sector. An updated report on the impact of the crisis is slated to be presented and discussed at a subsequent videoconference meeting ahead of the next OECS Authority meeting to be held in Anguilla in November. 

Several Ministers also proposed the need to strengthen the institutional capacity of the OECS Secretariat in executing its Tourism Work Programme. Ministers supported the development of the research capacity of the OECS Secretariat to better inform regional tourism policy decisions and programmes. 

At the recent meeting via videoconference the OECS Secretariat informed Ministers of new aspects of the Organisation’s Tourism Work Programme. These include an Action Plan for the development of cultural industries in the OECS, including strengthening of business linkages with tourism; and a hospitality worker exchange programme that provides opportunities for employees in the OECS hospitality industry to work in Canada during the off-season.