The Tribune

THE United Nations has recognised The Bahamas as a leader in tourism.

The Bahamas received an open letter of endorsement and support from the United Nations World Tourism Organisation recognising the nation as a leader in the field, particularly in the region.

The letter was presented to Prime Minister Perry Christie by United Nations World Tourism Organisation (UNWTO) Secretary General Taleb Rifai in a ceremony at Government House, during the recent Small Island Developing States conference.

Mr Christie called on the region to continue to share its resources with each other in order to create the feeling of one destination and one Caribbean.

The letter was welcomed by the host of the conference, Tourism Minister Obie Wilchcombe, who noted the timing of the honour as the country celebrates 50 years of tourism.

“It is an open letter that seeks to endorse the Bahamas and to support all that we do in our number one industry,” he said.

“The Bahamas is celebrating 50 years of tourism. It was in 1964 when we became a country that recognised tourism fully as an industry and then we travelled the road that ensured that we could do all that we could to lift our people from one state to the next.”

Mr Wilchcombe said he and the Secretary General of UNWTO met at a conference in Dubai last year and discussed the possibility of the SIDS Conference being held in the Bahamas.

“Tourism is an industry that has worked. It could work for all of us if we work together as a region,” Mr Wilchcombe said.

The UNWTO Secretary General said: “It was in Dubai that we decided that the Bahamas is a very important part of this network of nations to receive this open letter.

“An open letter, that is part of what we call the Golden Book of Tourism, is a letter which we decided to submit to Heads of State and Heads of Government who believe in their hearts that tourism is a force for good and that tourism is a transformative force in social economic development.

“It’s a recognition to you personally and to the Commonwealth of the Bahamas of how important you are to the international tourism community, in travel and tourism.”

The Prime Minister said that the Bahamas kept working turing the tourism industry from being a seasonal one to full time.

“We witnessed over the years our sister Caribbean countries moving more and more to the conclusion that that was the right way to go. And as we were challenged in our region with bananas, sugar and had to recalibrate our economies, which is still being done, tourism loomed larger and larger and more meaningful,” he said.

“There is no industry that is more effective, more efficient and as quick as the tourism industry in generating economic activity. And when we look at unemployment, particularly for the young generation in our region, we should be alarmed and it ought to propel us into policies that are calculated to cause there to be the necessary improvements in being able to attract more people to the region and have them spend more money.”

He said he was happy to hear that the region is receiving 25 million visitors annually. Travel and tourism also accounts directly and indirectly for about three percent to five percent of global GDP, as well as 30 per cent of the world’s export of services.

“It is a massive multi-
billion dollar economy and the challenge for the region is how much of it remains in the region and how much of it circulates in our economy for the betterment of our economy, bringing it one of the tenets of being able to ensure the people of the country feel the impact of the industry to ensure its continuity,” the Prime Minister said.