CTO Launches Landmark Tourism Supply Side Committee | News
Caribbean tourism leaders at the launch of CTO’s Tourism Supply Side Committee during Caribbean Week in New York. Pictured (L-R): CTO SG and CEO Dona Regis-Prosper, Jamaican Minister Edmund Bartlett, Barbados Minister Ian Gooding-Edghill and CHTA’s Sanovnik Destang.
Dr. Terrance Drew, Prime Minister of St. Kitts and Nevis and Chairman of CARICOM, calls for a new model of tourism that creates and preserves greater value within the Caribbean. He has endorsed the Caribbean Tourism Organization’s (CTO) new Tourism Supply Side Initiative, describing it as a crucial step in ensuring that tourism benefits the people and economies in the region.
Prime Minister Drew delivered virtual remarks Thursday at the launch of the new commission during New York’s Caribbean Week, held at InterContinental New York Times Square.
Speaking in his capacity as CARICOM Chairman, Dr. Drew that the future of Caribbean tourism must focus on creating greater value for the region by strengthening the connections between tourism and the broader economy. He stressed that the sector should support local entrepreneurs, rural communities, small businesses, women and youth, while promoting innovation, regional integration and sustainable development.
“Tourism should not just create wealth in the Caribbean; it should help maintain that wealth in the Caribbean,” he said.
The new commission represents a strategic shift from a traditional demand-driven focus on visitor arrivals to a comprehensive supply-side approach focused on workforce development, local supplier integration, logistics, infrastructure, digital transformation and public-private partnerships.
Dr. Drew was accompanied by Edmund Bartlett, Jamaica’s Minister of Tourism and Chairman of the new Tourism Supply Side Committee; Ian Gooding-Edghill, CTO Chairman and Barbados’ Minister of Tourism and International Transport for Barbados; Dona Regis-Prosper, Secretary General and CEO of the CTO; and Sanovnik Destang, president of the Caribbean Hotel and Tourism Association (CHTA).
Minister Bartlett described the initiative as a step towards building a more integrated tourism economy by strengthening links between tourism and agriculture, manufacturing, logistics, transport, technology and the creative industries.
The Minister emphasized that the committee will be guided by measurable objectives and practical implementation with the aim of creating a more resilient, inclusive and competitive tourism economy. “The future of Caribbean tourism must be defined not only by resilience, but also by transformation,” he said.
Minister Gooding-Edghill described the tourism supply-side initiative as a practical, action-oriented effort to strengthen the economic competitiveness of the Caribbean by increasing the region’s capacity to supply its own tourism sector. He said the initiative – one of the most important decisions taken by the CTO – will help reduce import dependence, retain more foreign exchange, limit inflationary pressures, boost entrepreneurship and employment and build stronger regional supply chains.
Stressing the importance of implementation, he noted that the commission’s success will depend on data-driven decision-making and collaboration between governments, the private sector and development partners. “This program is about us within the Caribbean region understanding how we can best retain more of the foreign exchange we earn within this region,” he said.
Regis-Prosper said the new development marks the realization of a long-awaited strategy to strengthen the region’s tourism ecosystem. “Tourism cannot work in the Caribbean if it is an insular approach. It has to be a regional approach, with the Caribbean brand at the forefront,” she said.
The strategy also envisions the development of a regional logistics hub, a dedicated tourism bank, a regional pension plan for tourism workers and comprehensive capacity building initiatives to create a more resilient and inclusive tourism economy that retains greater value within the Caribbean.
Destang welcomed the commission as an accelerator of long-standing private sector efforts: “The first chapter of Caribbean tourism attracted visitors. The second chapter was a growing number of visitors. The next chapter maximizes the value that tourism creates for our Caribbean people. That’s why today’s launch is important. Not because we are just creating a new commission, but because it creates a new opportunity for government and the private sector to work together towards a common goal: a more resilient and inclusive Caribbean tourism economy.”
The committee, chaired by Jamaica, currently consists of 13 CTO member states: Anguilla, Antigua and Barbuda, the Bahamas, Barbados, Belize, the British Virgin Islands, Dominica, Grenada, St. Kitts and Nevis, Saint Lucia, St. Vincent and the Grenadines, and the Turks and Caicos Islands, and will work closely with the CHTA and allied members of the CTO.
Partnerships with the Inter-American Development Bank and other stakeholders will support demand-driven analyzes and the development of a framework for regional logistics hubs, with first results expected in early 2027.
