8th Caribbean Conference on Sustainable Tourism Development Set for April 25-29
BRIDGETOWN, Barbados, fEBRUARY 3, 2006. The economic benefits of sustainable tourism and its implications for the social and cultural environment, will be the central focus of the 8th Annual Caribbean Conference on Sustainable Tourism Development, also known as the Sustainable Tourism Conference (STC-8), to be held this year in San Juan, Puerto Rico.
The April 25-29 conference, which has as its theme, Keeping the Right Balance - Economic Progress and Sustainable Tourism, will stress the importance of balancing the gains of tourism development while cherishing the value of the natural environment, said Mareba Scott, the Caribbean Tourism Organization (CTO)'s sustainable tourism product specialist.
"The Conference will examine key challenges that threaten our economic viability and ultimately the sustainability of our tourism industry," Ms. Scott said. "Not only will we assess the impacts, we will also explore the opportunities for product initiatives." She said the conference would also provide an opportunity for the sharing of best practices in the area of sustainable tourism development, with the host destination, Puerto Rico, as one of the case studies.
A dynamic programme is being finalized and will include plenary sessions, workshops and study tours. The annual Caribbean Conference on Sustainable Tourism Development is part of the information dissemination and regional awareness component of CTO's Strategy for Sustainable Tourism. It looks at how member states can design and implement sustainable tourism policies and programmes, offering a regional forum for information exchange on the successes and pitfalls of national, regional and international initiatives.
STC-8 is organized by CTO in collaboration with the Puerto Rico Tourism Company (PTRC), and co-sponsored by the European Union within the framework of the Caribbean Regional Sustainable Tourism Development programme (CRSTDP.
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