Great Bay:--- "Tourism binds the Caribbean together not only as a destination, but as a single market: now we have to remove the roadblocks that make this so difficult to achieve. We can do so under the banner of the theme of this year's Caribbean Tourism Day, 'One Sea, One Voice, One Caribbean,'" said Minister of Tourism, Economic Affairs, Transport and Telecommunications, the Hon. Franklin Meyers in his first Caribbean Tourism Day address."The whole region is known world-wide for this one economic activity which has impacted so much on our way of life as a Caribbean people," the minister continued. "It will be my policy to vigorously promote Caribbean tourism to our island in accordance with our shared vision of 'One Caribbean'", he added.
While noting that "the same sea that separates us is the same sea that unites us," Director of Tourism, Regina LaBega pointed out that "Intra-Caribbean travel has become at best an obstacle course which is not only frustrating, but annoyingly expensive."
"How can we lay claim to "One Caribbean" when it is far cheaper to fly to Miami from St. Maarten than to Puerto Rico that is literally next door?" she asked rhetorically.
LaBega listed the three main objectives of Caribbean Tourism Day as raising awareness among Caribbean people of the importance of tourism in the region; raising the profile of the Caribbean tourism sector in the marketplace and making us reflect on the invaluable impact of tourism on the socio-economic and cultural wellbeing of the Caribbean.
"If tourism is everybody's business, as we often claim in the industry, then as a people business, it should indeed unite us more, much more than as a brand that is meant to attract only the rest of the world, while our own Caribbean people are not considered part of that target market," LaBega added.
In his own Caribbean Tourism Day message, secretary-general of the Caribbean Tourism Organization, CTO, Hugh Riley, said: "The Caribbean brand is a unifying force. It celebrates the diversity of the four language groups and our range of cultural influences, while highlighting the elements that unite us. That's what we mean when we speak of One Sea, One Voice, and One Caribbean."
"We want the brand to transmit the excitement of this region and to represent the elements that make the Caribbean the world's most desirable destination," Riley added.
Caribbean Tourism Day is celebrated throughout the region on the first Tuesday of November each year.
