The Caribbean seeks to climate-proof its tourism industry
BRIDGETOWN, Barbados: The tourism industry is the key economic driver and largest provider of jobs in the Caribbean after the public sector.
Caribbean tourism broke new ground in 2016, surpassing 29 million arrivals for the first time and once again growing faster than the global average.
Visitor expenditures also hit a new high, growing by an estimated 3.5 per cent to reach 35.5 billion dollars.
And the the outlook for 2017 remains rosy, with expected increases of 2.5 and 3.5 per cent in long-stay arrivals and between 1.5 per cent and 2.5 per cent in cruise passenger arrivals.
A 460,000- euro grant from the Caribbean Development Bank (CDB) will increase the tourism sector’s resilience to natural hazards and climate-related risks. But tourism officials say Caribbean islands are significantly affected by drastic changes in weather conditions and they fear climate change could have a devastating impact on the industry.
They note that the Caribbean tourism sector faces significant future threats related to both competitiveness and climate change impacts.
And for a region so heavily dependent on coastal- and marine-related tourism attractions, adaptation and resilience are critical issues facing Caribbean tourism.
“The impact of more severe hurricanes and the destruction of our most valued tourism assets, our beaches and coral reefs, and the damage to our infrastructure threaten to reverse the developmental gains that we have made,” Dominican Senator Francine Baron said.
“Our efforts to attain the 2030 Sustainable Development Goals ( SDGs) of the United Nations cannot be achieved without dealing with the causes of climate change.”
Baron, who serves as Dominica’s Minister of Foreign Affairs, made the comments as she addressed a forum on the issue of climate change at the general assembly of the Organisation of American States (OAS) held in Mexico recently.
In the face of these threats, the Caribbean Tourism Organisation (CTO), the Caribbean’s tourism development agency, has received a much-needed boost with a 460,000- euro grant from the Caribbean Development Bank (CDB) to implement a project to increase the Caribbean tourism sector’s resilience to natural hazards and climate related risks.
“Global climate change and its impacts, including the increasing frequency and severity of extreme weather events, pose a significant risk to the Caribbean region and threaten the sustainability of Caribbean tourism,” the CTO’s Secretary General Hugh Riley said.
“The CTO is pleased to have the support of the CDB to implement this project which will contribute to enhancing the resiliency, sustainability and competitiveness of the region’s tourism sector. Mainstreaming climate change adaptation (CCA) and disaster risk management ( DRM) strategies in tourism development and planning is our duty to our member countries.”
The CDB/CTO partnership was formalised at a signing ceremony held on June 22 at CDB’s headquarters in Barbados.
Speaking at the event, CDB President Dr Warren Smith noted that the tourism sector makes an enormous contribution to the region’s socioeconomic development.
“Tourism generates high levels of employment, foreign direct investment and foreign exchange for our borrowing member countries and, given its multi- sectoral nature, it is a very effective tool for promoting sustainable development and poverty reduction,” Dr Smith said. “However, maintaining this critical role calls for adequate safeguards to be erected against the enormous threats that climate change and natural hazards pose to the sustainability of our region.”
Funding is being provided under the African Caribbean Pacific-European Union-Caribbean Development Bank-Natural Disaster Risk Management in CARIFORUM Countries programme, which aims to reduce vulnerability to long-term impacts of natural hazards, including the potential impacts of climate change, thereby achieving national and regional sustainable development and poverty reduction goals in those countries.
During the 19-month project implementation period, the CTO will support the region’s tourism entities with policy formulation, the promotion of best practices in disaster risk management and climate change adaptation, and the development of tools to enhance the tourism sector’s knowledge and awareness of disaster risk reduction strategies and the potential impacts of climate variability and climate change (CVC).
A training component will also be included to strengthen the ability of public and private sector tourism stakeholders to undertake adequate mitigation and adaptation actions to CVC. The CTO secretariat will also benefit from institutional strengthening to help provide technical assistance and ongoing support for tourism-related climate services.
The project is in keeping with 2017 as the International Year of Sustainable Tourism for Development, which has been designated by the United Nations General Assembly.