Bartlett elected chairman of OAS tourism committee
KINGSTON, Jamaica — Tourism Minister Edmund Bartlett was elected, by acclamation, as the new Chairman of the Organization of American States (OAS) Inter-American Committee on Tourism (CITUR), during a meeting of the Integral Council for Development (CIDI) on Tuesday.
“I am very happy to have been chosen for this very important role, which will help move the tourism industry forward, during this on-going pandemic. I thank the members for their faith in me, and look forward to continuing the process of working with each member state in the months to come,” the Minister responded to the announcement.
“I pledge to enhance engagement with all delegations, to guarantee that the Americas area not only survives, but thrives in the post-pandemic era and beyond,” he said.
The minister also urged the region to “not to accept what was nor what is but what must be”, in addressing the pandemic’s difficulties and health, and thrive.
“As a result, the Americas will have a strong tourism sector, which will provide more jobs and economic well-being for its citizens,” he added.
Bartlett asked Member States to work together for the recovery and future of tourism, emphasizing the need for innovation and investment in priority products and people.
He also complimented his vice chairs from Ecuador and Paraguay. Latin America, The Caribbean, Canada, and the United States are all members of CITUR, the most prestigious tourist organization in the Americas. The meeting took place in Madrid, Spain, on the sidelines of the ongoing United Nations’ World Tourism Organization’s General Assembly, in which Bartlett is also actively participating.
The OAS is the world’s oldest regional organization, dating back to the First International Conference of American States in October 1889 to April 1890 in Washington, DC.
The International Union of American Republics was established at that summit and the stage was set for weaving a web of provisions and institutions that became known as the inter-American system, the world’s oldest international institutional framework.
