3rd Workshop on the Promotion of Safety and Security in the Tourism Industry

ASSOCIATION OF CARIBBEAN STATES (ACS)

DIRECTORATE FOR TRADE AND SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT (DTSD)

PRESS RELEASE:

3rd WORKSHOP ON THE PROMOTION OF SAFETY AND SECURITY IN THE TOURISM INDUSTRY

The Association of Caribbean States in collaboration with the United Nations World Tourism Organization successfully hosted the first session of the 3rd Workshop on the Promotion of Safety and Security in the Tourism Industry 9th of November, 2021. Captured under this year’s theme; Rebuilding Visitor Confidence- Legal Perspective on Tourist Protection, this workshop bring together experts from the UNWTO that have been contributes to the development of legislation for tourist protection and crisis management in an effort to promote tourist protection within the Greater Caribbean and to support capacity building in the areas of tourist protection policy development.

The Opening Ceremony, moderated by the Chair of the ACS Special Committee for Sustainable Tourism, Ambassador Raul Li Causi, who brought welcome remarks along with the Deputy Director for the Americas, United Nations World Tourism Organization (UNWTO) Mr. Alejandro Varela and the ACS Secretary General, Rodolfo Sabonge. They reiterating the importance of this type of training session for Sustainable Tourism and expressing their keenness for the two day workshop that can contribute to capacity building to mitigate crises and emergencies that can hamper the regional Tourism Industry.

The working session for the first day, captured the awareness of the participant on the development of the International Code for the Protection of Tourist and the crises preparedness of participants. This illustrated that a substantial amount of persons are aware of the code, but very few have mitigation infrastructure in place to offer tourist protection in the event of a crisis. This served as the basis for the workshop exploration of the fundamentals of the International Code for the Protection of Tourists (ICPT).

The session saw presentations form, Ms. Alicia Gomez along with Ms. Emily Steinmayr and Mr. Diego Benitez from the UNWTO, who exposed participants to the key components of the code. This was followed by an insightful panel discussion, moderated by Mr. Alejandro Varela, the Deputy Director for the Americas, UNWTO and comprised of a group of Experts of the ICPT Committee; Ms. Alicia Gomez, Ms. Emily Steinmayr and Ms. Alessandra Priante from the UNWTO. This panel discussion explored the use of the ICPT in dealing with emergency situations as a mitigation tool for crisis management in the tourism industry using practical examples. Participants then engaged in a self-assessment on the efficiencies and challenges their destination face when dealing with developing and implementing standard legislated tourist protections.

The first working session concluded with the Moderator, Ms. Safiya Horne-Bique, Director, Trade and Sustainable Development expressing her pleasure in the engagement during the session. The workshop continues with the second session on Wednesday 10th November to explore the development and application of legislation and policies for tourist protection.   

For more information please contact the Directorate of Trade and Sustainable Development: dtsddirect@acs-aec.org.