OECS Senior Tourism Officials to discuss deeper cooperation as they prepare for Ministers Meeting

Castries, St. Lucia (March 31, 2010): Senior Officials in the Tourism Sector of the OECS will convene on Wednesday March 31st, 2010 for a meeting by videoconference. Wednesday’s videoconference coordinated by the OECS Secretariat, is in preparation for the 9th Meeting of the OECS Council of Tourism Ministers scheduled for St. Lucia on April 20, 2010.

Programme Officer for Tourism at the OECS Secretariat Dr. Lorraine Nicholas expects a high level of participation at Wednesday’s videoconference for senior officials in the OECS Tourism sector: “So far, the responses from Member States have been overwhelmingly favourable. All Member States indicating that they will be represented at the videoconference. In most cases we have two representatives confirmed for each OECS Member State.”

During Wednesday’s videoconference, tourism officials will discuss a number of issues relating to the deepening of functional cooperation in tourism among Member States. These include the possibilities for joint tourism product development; joint marketing; and an OECS Tourism Enhancement Fund to finance regional tourism development initiatives.

The notion of operationalising the Tourism Shared Space in the context of the pending Economic Union is another important area to be discussed by the senior tourism officials. In that regard, particular focus will be placed on the adoption of a collective approach to the clearance of yachts in the region and the multi-destination tourism concept.

The videoconference will make recommendations on these matters for consideration by the Council of Ministers of Tourism at their 9th meeting on the 20th of April.