Earl Moxam, Senior Gleaner Writer

If the Caribbean Tourism Organisation (CTO) had its way, there would be a single immigration card for all member countries.

This would mean that visitors to any country in the region would be providing identical information to the authorities as those visiting another member country.

The information envisaged for a common immigration card would go beyond the standard biographical data to include appropriate feedback on the visitor's experience in the host country.

Vincent Vanderpool-Wallace, CTO secretary general, contends that such information, particularly from departing visitors, would be very useful in determining how to improve the experience for tourists coming into the region.

"If I know where my best customers are coming from and I know what they thought of their vacation - (I would know) what to fix, what to eliminate," he argued.

Speaking with The Gleaner, in London, recently, Vanderpool-Wallace stressed that the provision of that kind of client feedback would give Caribbean governments and hoteliers an advantage over other destinations with which they have to compete.

It was the kind of common approach which worked well for some of the logistics involved in hosting the Cricket World Cup in 2007, he said.

Asked whether this information could not be elicited at the particular hotels where the visitors stayed, he argued that it would be best if incorporated into the immigration form.