The Tribune

By NATARIO McKENZIE

Tribune Business Reporter

nmckenzie@tribunemedia.net

Nassau and Paradise Island’s tourism industry is undergoing  a sustainability assessment that aims to identify areas of improvement  that will make the destination more “vibrant”.

  The Bahamas has begun the evaluation process through its participation in the Sustainable Destination Alliance for the Americas (SDAA) programme.

The initiative was launched in Barbados last March, and the SDAA will offer seven destinations in the Caribbean and Latin America support with sustainability efforts.

Ellison ‘Tommy’ Thompson, the Ministry of Tourism’s deputy director-general, told Tribune Business: “We are looking at not only environmental but cultural marketing initiatives that would make the destination more vibrant.

“This week we we have brought a number of stakeholders together for them to give input in into the various pillars of  this programme. It is being facilitated by Sustainable Travel International, but they are not giving their opinions on it; everything is from the Bahamian stakeholders and that’s really important, because in in order for this destination to be successful the citizens who are living here have to be the ones giving the input.”

Mr Thompson added: “What we don’t want to have is a situation where it’s a Ministry of Tourism plan and everyone else just agrees to it.”

He explained that the destination assessment will be carried out by the stakeholders this week, and Sustainable Travel International will return in May to present its findings. “We will then put forward a tourism  stewardship committee who will move into addressing the issues,” Mr Thompson said.

    SDAA includes the Organisation of American States (OAS), Caribbean Tourism Organisation, Sustainable Travel International, Royal Caribbean Cruises US government through its permanent mission to the OAS.

    Seleni Matus, Sustainable Travel international’s vice-president for Latin America and the Caribbean, said: “The destination assessment looks at issues of governance. We are trying  to understand, for instance, what is happening with regards to planning, if there is a sustainable tourism plan, if there is monitoring of that plan and whether there is the political will to see that plan through.”

    She added: “Another area we look at as well is community involvement and benefits. This is an important issue all across the region because we are not always seeing the full benefits, and people are very vocal about that.

“Under this area we look at whether there are permanent mechanisms that ensure that the community has a voice in how tourism is developing, and in that case we also look at whether there are initiatives that enable micro and small entrepreneurs to be able to come into the tourism sector.”

Ms Matus said another focus of the assessment is the management of local attractions and sites.

    “The reason why we spend a lot of time making sure the right leaders are in the room is because through this process it’s the stakeholders who are actually agreeing on what the current situation is,” Ms Matus said.

“It’s not an external thing. Local leaders are being empowered to make decisions for themselves. We look at it and we bring in additional research, and we come back and present the results, which are also vetted.”