David Jessop, ContributorHUGE AMOUNTS of Caribbean time and political capital are being spent on the fight to obtain better transitional arrangements for the region's sugar and banana producers.
Despite this, there is now an inevitability about the associated process of change and within a relatively short period the last vestige of trade preference will be swept away.
It is a development that will require Caribbean Governments and Europe to pay close attention to the successful delivery of a measured transition away from traditional agriculture and just as importantly to fostering newer industries and diversifying their scope. Without this it is hard to see how in the longer-term the region's social and economic stability can be retained, sustained and the positive perceptions necessary for the services sector to thrive.
In this there is still a long way to go. The Caribbean is singularly unprepared for changing the nature of its dialogue with Europe and others. The enduring political focus is on export agriculture. Familiarity, very often based on personal background and a language that many ministers and officials feel comfortable with, continues to divert much of the public sector from rethinking how to broaden the regions international objectives in a way that embraces the challenges facing the services sector.
CLIMATE CHANGE
As a consequence close enough attention is not being paid to the policy issues that impact on tourism, the sector that now underwrites almost every regional economy.
This is manifested in the absence of any sustained political discussion in the region, in Brussels or Geneva or within the ACP group on issues that affect tourism.
Paramount among the big issues affecting the industry to say nothing of the concerns of everyone who lives in the region is climate change. It threatens many Caribbean nations, whet-her it be through a rise in sea levels, the increased frequency of tropical storms and hurricanes or the growing reluctance of insurers to provide the cover needed for industry in general and tourism in particular to continue.
Despite this the region continues to take its climate for granted and has not given the issue the high policy perspective it deserves. After its people, it is climate that is the Caribbean's most important resource, supporting almost every aspect of the regional economy. Beaches, coastal eco-systems, the region's flora and fauna are all vulnerable to a process that is being driven for the most part by industries in nations beyond the region.
This implication is that the Caribbean needs to consider exploring the ways in which all small states introduce the issue of global warming into their regular dialogue with Europe, the U.S. and others. More specifically it argues for far greater importance being given in all bilateral and multilateral exchanges on political and economic issues to the impact that carbon emissions from the worlds developed and advanced economies are having on the future economic viability of the region's premier industry, tourism.
ACCESSIBLE DEBATE
Also missing is any accessible debate on tourism in services negotiations in Geneva and an explanation about how these issues might affect the everyday lives of the hundreds of thousands who work in the industry from chefs to taxi drivers and bar owners. While the Caribbean Regional Negotiat-ing Machinery has been working on technical position papers on services, there is a striking lack of public rhetoric in the region or in Europe about how the tourism sectors interests are to be defended or promoted. So much so it is almost impossible to find any public reference to tourism in the context of an Economic Partnership Agree-ment with Europe, the Doha Development Round or in the Caribbean's broader political relationships with developed or advanced nations.
A higher public profile on tourism would also offer the opportunity for the region to change the nature of the development dialogue by making clear that increased tourism demand will affect economic and social policy in relation to housing, transport, health care and a range of other issues that impact on both the domestic population and visitors alike.
Security in the context of tourism should also be a central political issue. Whether it is increasing levels of crime, terrorism, or the safety of all at the time of the Cricket World Cup, a secure environment and a prospering tourism sector are symbiotic.
In all of this the region's hoteliers are far from blameless. For too long some of their number have wished to ignore the policy environment within which they operate. However, this is changing.
In developing earlier this year a single Caribbean position on tourism the Caribbean Tourism Organisation (CTO) and the Caribbean Hotels Association (CHA) have recognised the key role they have to play.
The recent decision taken by the two organisations to bury past differences and to sign a joint accord marks a vital step in the direction of the region having a single position on tourism.
The agreement signed between the CHA and the CTO. recognises that the tourism industry in the Caribbean functions best when both the private and public sectors work toward a common set of goals, despite there being differences in style and focus between the two.
Importantly the agreement, which has been endorsed by Caribbean tourism ministers for CTO and for CHA by all leading private sector entities in the Caribbean hospitality sector, proposes in part the establishment of a joint Annual Caribbean Tourism Summit to bring the needs of Caribbean tourism to the attention of the leaders of the Caribbean. It also suggests where appropriate, that there be regular exchanges between the two organisations on policy issues and where appropriate coordinated advocacy by the two bodies in Europe and the United States.
SUCCESS OF TOURISM
A recent study for the European Centre for Development Policy Management pointed out that 'success of tourism in the Caribbean, in general, has not been a planned achievement or as a result of a strategic option. In a majority of the Caribbean countries', it states, 'tourism has emerged accidentally as an economic saviour when the traditional agro-export sector failed to retain its position in the global market place'.
This approach has to end if the industry that is now vital to the region's economic survival is to be sustainable.
Caribbean nations with the help and support of CHA and CTO and other representative bodies from the services sector need to ensure that all of those who have to speak on behalf of the region's interests are well briefed and fluent in the concerns of their sector and tourism in particular. Otherwise what little competitive advantage that the region has will be lost rapidly to those who have understood that the rhetoric and the international rules of the game have changed.
David Jessop is the director of the Caribbean Council and can be contacted at david.jessop@caribbean-council.org
