Sun, sea and sand becoming stale
-tourism conference told diversification new mantra
Stabroek News
November 30, 2003
The region needs to diversify its tourism product, and culture and sports tourism are two ways to develop a competitive advantage over other destinations, says Karen Ford-Warner, Deputy Secretary General of the Caribbean Tourism Organisation(CTO).
In a presentation at the opening of a tourism conference organised by the Tourism Studies Unit of the University of Guyana last week, Ford-Warner said after decades of sun, sea and sand, the Caribbean's traditional tourism products, were becoming stale and the increasingly sophisticated and adventurous traveller is demanding more.
Being blessed with stunning beauty and a warm and hospitable climate all year round, the Caribbean has done well developing it to the point where it has surpassed the manufacturing and agricultural sectors in terms of job creation and foreign exchange earnings.
But with the region's offerings becoming too predictable diversification was the mantra, declared Ford-Warner.
The question is how to diversify and in what direction. She noted that the link between the region's cultural resources and sports had been discussed as far back as 20 years ago.
She suggested that the expressions of culture, in tangible and intangible forms, allowed the possibility of the nexus with the tourism industry. But there are those with reservations.
She quoted Trinidadian artist, Peter Minshall at a CTO conference in 1998 saying if Trinidad ignored the needs of its own people in Carnival and concentrated only on packaging the event according to misguided notions of what foreigners may want then "we'll be selling our souls and in the end we will have nothing of value to sell to anyone."
For Carnival to be sustainable as a tourism or entertainment product, Minshall said "we must attend to the health of the festival itself on its own terms to satisfy our own needs for quality entertainment, creative expression and spiritual sustenance. If we do so it will not only be sustainable but it will naturally be endowed with such qualities and values as a cultural product that partners will find it irresistible."
Ford-Warner noted that several countries in the region had realised the potential for economic benefits and the substantial return on investment that could accrue from the promotion of festivals particularly music festivals.
According to Dr Lawrence Nurse of the St Augustine Campus of the University of the West Indies, the 1998 Jazz Festival in St Lucia gained for the country US$6.92M from an investment of US$1M.
Nurse concluded that festival tourism enhanced competitiveness for Caribbean tourism as well as boosting Caribbean identity and confidence. Other examples, he noted were the Reggae Sunsplash, Air Jamaica Jazz and Blues Festival in Jamaica.
He said governments must play a central role in subsidising and promoting the events.