IDB launches programme to assist Latin America, Caribbean improve tourism sector

WASHINGTON, DC, United States (CMC) — The Inter-american Development Bank (IDB) has launched the “Future Tourism Programme” aimed at addressing the technological transformation of tourist destinations in Latin America and the Caribbean (LAC) as a key tool for the recovery and competitiveness of tourism in the region.

With financing from the General Cooperation Fund of Spain, the IDB said the Future Tourism Programme opens a regional call, inviting tourist destinations to benefit from a diagnosis of their level of technological maturity, to develop a detailed action plan and pre-investment agreement with public and private sector stakeholders.

Data released by the World Travel and Tourism Council shows that Latin America and the Caribbean is one of the regions where the tourism sector has had the greatest expansion, generating 10 per cent of the gross domestic product (GDP) and nine per cent of employment in 2019.

But the IDB said the crisis generated by the novel coronavirus has affected the sector notably, producing a 50 per cent contraction of regional tourism GDP in 2020.

“In this context, the revitalisation of regional tourism is articulated as an essential step towards the recovery, and adoption of new technologies as the necessary engine of this process. The sustainable development goals consider new technologies as a basic element towards inclusion, sustainability, competitiveness, and economic development.”

The Washington-based financial institution said that from the proposals received until March 30, this year, it will select 10 destinations that meet a number of requirements and that all of its 26 member countries, including those in the Caribbean; namely, The Bahamas, Barbados, Belize, Guyana, Haiti, Jamaica, Suriname, and Trinidad and Tobago are being invited to submit proposals.

It said the criteria would also include the type of eligible destinations taking into account consolidated destinations, not belonging to more than two municipalities, excluding national or regional circuits. The IDB said applicant destinations may be urban, coastal or nature destinations.

“This initiative is aligned with the IDB’S Vision 2025 – Reinvesting in the Americas: A Decade of Opportunities to achieve sustainable recovery and inclusive growth in Latin America and the Caribbean,” it added.

SAVANNA-LA-MAR, Westmoreland — Having lost her husband to lung cancer on the second day of the new year, 67-year-old Denese Nesbeth from Fort William in this parish is longing to reconnect with friends and relatives she has not seen for years. She is searching for her friends Carlton Greene and Lloyd Walker, as well as her sister Carol Nesbeth.

The elderly widow, who is originally from Maggotty in St Elizabeth, said she met Walker when they both attended Carisbrook Primary School in Maggotty. He is from an area called Tanky in the parish, she said.

“Lloyd is my good friend. Mi naah talk ’bout friend weh deh bout today; we were good, good friends. Dem used to call him ‘Spider’ because him ‘long and tall’,” she recalled.

Nesbeth said the last time she had contact with ‘Spider’, he was working at Tinson Pen Aerodrome in St Andrew. She said they both moved to Allman Town in the capital city and kept in touch until she moved to Westmoreland seven years ago to start a new life with her husband. That was also when she lost contact with her other friend, Greene, and her sister Carol .

She said she met Greene while she was living in Kingston. Originally from St Ann, he was living in Vineyard Town, a neighbouring community to Allman Town where she lived. She said they became fast friends.

“All the time that I was living in Allman Town, Carlton never lef mi out. Him used to do electrical work at a firm and him used to carry things come give mi all the time and when mi have things mi used to give him same way. The whole a we was good friend,” she reminisced.

She said the last time they spoke, Greene told her he had moved back to St Ann.

Meanwhile, the last known location she has for her sister, Carol, is Prince of Wales Street in St Andrew.

With no children of her own, Nesbeth now lives alone since her husband’s death earlier this month. Though she has a supportive community, she longs to be reunited with her long-lost friends and sister. She is asking them to contact her at (876) 889-1137.