With the economically crucial tourism industries of most member countries of the Caribbean Community (CARICOM) impacted to varying degrees by the coronavirus pandemic, the group is collectively engaged in fashioning a joint tourism policy that seeks to restore the fortunes of a sector without which the region could be confronted with a severe and protracted socio-economic crisis.
Reports emanating last weekend from the first of what is expected to be several meetings of the CARICOM sub-committee on tourism and which was chaired by the Bahamian Prime Minister Hubert Minnis, reportedly contemplated the multi-faceted dislocation of the region’s tourism sector resulting from severe restrictions on travel that decimated arrival numbers at the various regional tourism resorts. A statement emanating from The Bahamas said that beyond seeking to effect immediate repairs to the multi-faceted damage to the sector which COVID-19 has left behind, the consultations are also concerned with devising strategies for the long-term sustainability of an industry without which several of the Community’s member countries would be hard-pressed to survive.