August conference to discuss transformation for tourism evolution - Panellists to discuss at the 26-29 August gathering in St. Vincent and the Grenadines

Significant advantages arise for those tourism-related companies that are able to transform through any diversity in order to remain competitive in today’s changing global tourism landscape.

The Caribbean Tourism Organization (CTO) will examine the negative forces and positive tourism recoveries in a general session at the upcoming Caribbean Conference on Sustainable Tourism Development taking place from August 26-29, 2019, at the Beachcombers Hotel in St Vincent and the Grenadines.

The panel titled “Transformation for Tourism Evolution” will be held on August 29 from 10:45 a.m. until noon. The session will illustrate significant advantages gained by those who were innovative and creative during times that the tourism market was disrupted.

Local tourism entities are largely categorised as micro, small, and medium enterprises, and their ability to harness transformative advances is an existential imperative for ensuring their sustained relevance in an ever-changing geo-political climate. This session takes a critical look at new opportunities to regenerate the regional tourism industry in the areas of market access, disaster recovery, and climate resilience as a means of increasing tourism competitiveness and sustainability.

Maria Fowell, tourism specialist, economic development policy unit for the Organization of Eastern Caribbean States (OECS), will moderate the panel, which will also hear from Camillo Gonsalves, St Vincent and the Grenadines’ minister of finance and economic planning, sustainable development and information technology. Kieran St Omer, research officer, strategic planning and projects at the Eastern Caribbean Central Bank (ECCB), will speak to the topic ‘Opportunities and Threats from a Move Towards Digital Currency’.

The conference, otherwise known as the Sustainable Tourism Conference (#STC2019), has been organised by CTO in partnership with the St Vincent and the Grenadines Tourism Authority (SVGTA).

Under the theme ‘Keeping the Right Balance: Tourism Development in an Era of Diversification’, industry experts participating in #STC2019 will address the urgent need for a transformational, disruptive, and regenerative tourism product to meet ever-rising challenges. The full conference programme can be viewed at https://www.caribbeanstc.com/program/.

St Vincent and the Grenadines will host #STC2019 amid an intensified national thrust towards a greener, more climate-resilient destination, including the construction of a geothermal plant on St Vincent to complement the country’s hydro and solar-energy capacity and the restoration of the Ashton Lagoon in Union Island.

To register for the conference, visit https://www.caribbeanstc.com/register. Rates are available for general delegates, including CTO members and non-members, St Vincent and the Grenadines residents, travel agents, and students (both local and international rates).