The Tribune

A leading Bahamian advocate for sustainable tourism development will receive the 2013 Caribbean Media Exchange (CMEx) Leadership Award.

Earlston McPhee, the Ministry of Tourism executive, was selected by CMEx as the recipient of its media recognition of excellence prize.

CMEx president, Bevan Springer, said Mr McPhee was singled out for “his tireless commitment to ensuring sustainability is embedded in Bahamian and Caribbean tourism endeavours”.

Mr McPhee joins Puerto Rico’s Terestella Gonz�lez Denton and Bill Clegg of Choice Hotels International as the select individuals named to date by the non-profit organisation.

Organisers of the CMEx fundraiser, set for The 40/40 Club in New York on Sunday, December 8, 2013, announced that Mr McPhee was selected for using his 20-year career with the Ministry of Tourism to promote the benefits of sustainable tourism to Caribbean communities, their economic well-being, culture, health and education.

Mr McPhee in 1994 initiated the development of the Bahamas Sustainable Tourism Development Policy Guidelines, in collaboration with the Organisation of American States (OAS), one of the first states to do so.

This project, and other similar initiatives, were instrumental in the Government being awarded the World Travel and Tourism Council’s Green Globe Environmental Achievement Award in 1996 and 1998.

“Sustainability runs through Earlston’s veins, and the Caribbean is blessed to have such an environmental champion keeping our important issues in the limelight,” said Mr Springer, who added that Mr McPhee, through his advocacy efforts, has kept Caribbean sustainability challenges as a top agenda item for many international organisations.

As a director of the Ministry of Tourism’s Sustainable Tourism Unit, Mr McPhee has developed a training manual for nature tour guides. The Unit has coordinated, in partnership with the Bahamas National Trust, the training of about 150 visitor tour guides throughout the Bahamas.

Mr McPhee has also worked collaboratively with fly fishing guides throughout the Bahamas. This has resulted in the establishment of the first national association of fly fishing guides, and the development of training and certification programmes, one of which led to more than 100 guides receiving their class B captain licenses.

The chairman of the Bahamas National Coastal Awareness Committee, whose objective is to bring awareness of the importance of precious coastal resources to socio-economic development, Mr McPhee is also the recipient of the Bahamas Hotel Association’s prestigious annual Sustainable Tourism Award, in 2005.