WESTERN BUREAU – Ian Challenger, a representative of the Kaikoura District Council in New Zealand, has come out strongly in support of the implementation of ‘green’ programmes in the region, saying that it could significantly boost the Caribbean’s tourism industry.

“I think that if more of these programmes are introduced it will help the tourism sector because this is the area that tourists now want. They want to know that the areas that they are going to, have good environmental practices,” he said.

Challenger was one of the more than 200 participants attending the Second Educational Symposium and Green

Tourism Conference at the Half Moon Hotel in Montego Bay, staged under the theme “Increasing Revenue and Market Share for Sustainable Tourism”.

During his presentation to the four-day conference last Thursday, Challenger told his audience that with the implementation of several ‘green’ programmes, Kaikoura’s tourist arrivals increased from 2,000 in 1986, to 1.3 million visitors at the end of last year.

Kaikoura is 2,048 square kilometres and is the world’s first Green Globe Destination.

Among the practices that the community has put in place to improve the environment are: the collection of and recycling of domestic waste at no cost to residents; and a tree-planting project for tourists.

“During this tree-planting project called “Tree for Travellers”, we get the tourists to pay for the carbon monoxide emissions that they bring down there, so we sell them a tree and it is planted at the local site. The result is that the money from the tree goes into the community and the trees beautify the community, and also offset the carbon monoxide emissions they have created,” Challenger explained.

Karen Turner, mission director for the United States Agency for International Development (USAID), agreed that the region’s tourism sector could benefit significantly, if proper environmental practices were put in place.

“It is becoming increasingly clear now that there are tourists in significant numbers who want to go to a place that’s clean; and so if the attractions have in place various certification programmes such as Green Globe and Blue Flag, they (tourists) will be more willing to go there,” Turner argued.

“People are using these environmental factors to choose where they go,” she added.

Jamaica has roughly 22 certified Green Globe properties and is one of the five Caribbean countries leading the way for Blue Flag’s regional programme. The Blue Flag programme promotes integrated environmental management and is owned and operated by the Foundation for Environmental Education (FEE), a Denmark-based non-profit, non-Governmental organisation.

Four facilities in Jamaica have presented themselves as candidates for Blue Flag certifications. These are Doctor’s Cave Bathing Club in Montego Bay; Port Antonio Marina and Beach in Portland; Merrils Beach Resort in Negril; and Norman Manley Beach Park, also in Negril. It is expected that more properties will participate in 2005. More than 3,000 facilities in over 24 countries have qualified for Blue Flag status.

Dr Scott McCormick, chief party, Coastal Quality Improvement Project, also reinforced the view that certified Green Globe and Blue Flag properties would get the competitive edge over non-certified properties.

“Properties with these certifications will definitely get to increase their market share because tour operators, especially in Europe, know very well that tourists want to go where they feel safe,” McCormick said. “They want to be safe in terms of water quality, for example, and so they are going to recommend to their clients those certified properties,” he added.

The education symposium and green tourism conference, which ended Saturday, attracted environmental and tourism professionals from Canada, New Zealand, Hawaii, the Caribbean and the United Kingdom. They discussed a wide range of tourism and environmental issues, including efforts being made to educate the region on sustainable environmental tourism. An exhibition was also mounted to showcase local technology.