OECS Authority calls for Closer Focus on Cruise Tourism and Air Transportation |
Contact: Julita Peter Friday, May 19, 2000 – The OECS Authority is concerned about the recent developments in the air transportation and cruise tourism sectors, a matter which, according to Kendell Morgan, OECS Secretariat’s Communications Officer, is becoming a major talking point. A decision by Carnival Cruise Lines last year to halt its visits to Grenada prompted a meeting of OECS Tourism Ministers earlier this month. At the meeting held in Grenada, the ministers agreed that issues relating to the developments in the cruise tourism and transportation sectors be examined with great urgency. "At a meeting last year with the carnival cruise line officials it was noted that the people who stand to lose most in such situations were the arts and crafts vendors, people who sell T-shirts, and of course the taxi drivers; and they were shown to be the big losers and the ones that the cruise lines should always bear in mind when they make these decisions. But the solutions that the leaders felt would be best was to cooperate with each other and work as a region," Morgan said Recognizing that several airlines doing inter-island travel had come on stream recently, the tourism leaders also felt that it was time to set up an air transportation policy to govern the air transportation sector. The proposals to set the framework for an air transportation policy were laid at the discussions during the Grenada meeting. It is expected that those proposals should go to the Heads when they meet at the next OECS Summit in November. The OECS Authority is calling upon all stakeholders in the two sectors to seek harmonized approaches to dealing with troubled issues in the sectors. |
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