THE Caribbean region has to be more aggressive in the way it pursues the developing world as a tourism market if it wants to be sustainably and economically viable. Former Guyana President Bharrat Jagdeo disclosed this during the 13th annual conference on sustainable tourism at the Guyana International Conference Centre in Guyana.

He noted the region’s entire immigration policies are dedicated to keeping people out rather than encouraging them to come in. He said for the region to remain attractive to tourists from around the world it had to combine its natural beauty; the sun, sand, sea, the forest with a range of other services for which new tourists are travelling.

“What I’m advocating for is using, combining our traditional tourism products, with products, new products. I think a combination of the two will ensure that we remain viable in the future and that we remain attractive, very competitive,” he said. Jagdeo pointed out that the region needed to look for innovative forms of financing in its bid to be more viable.

He explained that for the region to be sustainable it has to be aware of existential threats to the products that it offers.

He cited a World Bank study which determined that ten or fifteen of the most vulnerable to climate conditions countries are in the Caribbean.

“We already know that a disaster could have a systemic impact in our societies, having seen hurricanes and floods wipe out the equivalent of sixty, seventy-five, eighty per cent of gross domestic product. We know how this has affected the product that we offer,” he said.

Jagdeo noted the intergovernmental panel on climate change determined that for the region to have a sustainable trajectory it has to limit global temperature two degrees Celsius above green industrial level by 2050, and the only way that could be done is if by 2020 it greenhouse gas emission by 25 to 40 percent on a 90-90 baseline.

(Courtesy of Trinidad’s Newsday)