The twin-island Republic will be the center of attention when it hosts the 14th annual Sustainable Tourism Conference, (STC-14). The event, organized annually by the Caribbean Tourism Organization, the international agency responsible for leading sustainable tourism development in the Caribbean, has already lined up several top experts on the issue to speak to delegates and the media in T&T.
Among the latest addition is Carlos Vogeler, the regional director for the Americas at the World Tourism Organization, (UNWTO), the United Nations agency responsible for the promotion of responsible, sustainable and universally accessible tourism.
Vogeler will address the opening ceremony on Monday April 15th. The ceremony, which is scheduled to begin at 6:45 p.m. at the Hyatt Regency in Port-of-Spain, will be preceded by the formal opening of the STC-14 exhibition.
Themed, “Keeping the Right Balance: Enhancing Destination Sustainability Through Products, Partnerships and Profitability,” STC-14 will explore ways the Caribbean can enhance destination sustainability and competitiveness in the current global environment by examining a number of critical issues.
Vogeler has been stressing the need for tourism planners and practitioners to embrace both the technological and climatic changes that impact on sustainability and to manage the uncertainties with innovation and a renewed vision.
He has also called on tourism-related businesses to be sensitive to the needs of the community even while they focus on profit and return on investment.
Other speakers will include multiple award-winning hotelier Ewald Biemans, whose properties enjoy average occupancies of over 90 per cent and the grandson of one of the lead developers of the world famous Punta Cana Resort and Club in the Dominican Republic, Jake Kheel.
Trinidad’s eco-tourism is like Guyana in many respects – an undiscovered jewel. There are over 460 species of tropical birds, which you might like to photograph, 620 species of butterflies, 2300 species of flowering shrub of which 700 are orchids, and about 230 species of mammals, reptiles and amphibians there according to some reports.
And there is turtle watching season, which opened on March 1st and runs through September 30, 2013
For more information on STC-14, including how to participate, visit, www.caribbeanstc.com.
