All over the Caribbean, we should be seeking to establish “sustainable hotels” and “sustainable tourism industries”.
And – for me – the ideal Caribbean “sustainable hotel” would be one that is:
- Locally owned;
- Employs a large percentage of local workers;
- Is designed in a manner that supports and respects the vernacular architectural style;
- Features local art, craft, and furniture in its furnishings and decorations;
- Sources most of its food inputs from the local farming community;
- Provides employment for local artistes and entertainers;
- Features and develops the national cuisine;
- Utilizes solar and photovoltaic energy sources;
- Facilitates commercial participation by local taxi drivers, craft sellers and beach vendors;
- Conserves the local water supply by catching and using the hotel’s run-off rainwater;
- Refrains from encroaching on the beach;
- Encourages its guests to experience the entire country; and
- Develops a constructive relationship with the residents of the surrounding or adjacent community.
Such a “sustainable hotel” would be a real blessing to any Caribbean country in which it is located, for it would be a genuine instrument of national development – creating backward and forward linkages with other sectors of the national economy, generating income and career opportunities for citizens, and contributing to the consolidation of the national identity and culture.
It would be interesting to see the results if our Caribbean Ministries of Tourism were to undertake studies of our hotels, with a view to determining to what extent they exhibit the features of the ideal sustainable hotel. Indeed, I wonder how many of our hotels would be able to boast of even 50 percent of the abovementioned “sustainable hotel” indicators?
Needless to say, such “sustainable hotels” are, in turn, the cornerstones of a “sustainable tourism industry”: one in which the entire nation – its landscape, history, heritage, arts and culture – is seen as the tourism product, and not merely the traditional Caribbean sea and sun.
Clearly, a Caribbean “sustainable tourism industry” would be centred around an appreciation of the particular nation’s unique cultural heritage, and around hotels and other tourist facilities that reflect the unique culture, personality, and sense of hospitality of the national population.
Of course, other relevant factors would be :
* the maintenance of a secure and relatively crime-free environment;
* the construction of hurricane-resilient facilities;
* the provision of a high standard of public utilities, inclusive of good quality potable water;
* an efficient solid waste management system; and
* a rigorous and effective system of beach and other environmental protection, conservation and management.
In this relatively enlightened era in which nations and peoples all over the world are waking up to the absolute necessity of pursuing sustainable lifestyles and forms of national development – an era in which the United Nations has enunciated the “2030 Sustainable Development Goals” as the model to be pursued and our own Association of Caribbean States is championing the concept of “Sustainable Tourism” – it would do us well to spend some time reflecting on and developing the concept of a “Sustainable Tourism Zone of the Caribbean”.
David A. Comissiong
Barbados’ Ambassador to CARICOM and the Association of Caribbean States
The words qualified, experienced, committed and passionate describe the number 12 candidate on the St. Maarten Christian Party (SMCP) list, none other than Atwell Terrance Rey, a candidate with over 25 years of experience in business development, Internet startups, e-commerce and technology; with over 15 years of experience in the travel, tourism and aviation sectors; and, most importantly, with a solid basis of 9 years of experience in Parliament and Government as Policy Adviser, serving from 2010 to 2012 in Parliament and from 2012 to 2019 as Deputy Secretary of the Progress Committee St. Maarten.
“My specialty in serving for the past 7 years on the Progress Committee has been managing the oversight of the Ministry of Justice as Head of the Secretariat on St. Maarten and acting as liaison for the committee members and the local counterparts and stakeholders in the Justice chain,” Rey explains. “The primary responsibility of the committee is the overseeing of the execution of the Plans of Approach, in particular the plans of action for the St. Maarten Police Force and for the Prison Detention System.
“Having served two years in Parliament as Policy Advisor from 2010 to 2012, I would like to go back into Parliament and tackle the backlog of laws that need updating and synchronizing with our present day reality,” Rey continued. “Choosing the SMCP to make that a reality was based on the party’s guiding principles of integrity, transparency and good governance.”
The SMCP is the party Rey truly believes that will bring the true and long-lasting stability in government the country desperately needs.
Rey: “I would like to make special mention of former MP Claude “Chacho” Peterson and make known why I applaud Claude – #applaudclaude – for being the inspiration for me choosing the St. Maarten Christian Party (SMCP) as the party of choice for me to enter the political arena. Chacho has been very vocal on issues that resonated with me, but what I liked about what he had to say was that he always spoke from the heart.
“I will be proud to contest these upcoming 2020 elections with Chacho and the rest of the SMCP team. Together with the team I will continue to define my platform and find my voice on the topics that are close to my heart. This must culminate in a 12-point vision program for the island of St. Maarten as a country. There is a reason why I am candidate #12 on the SMCP slate. There is much work to be done.
“In the meantime, as I contest this election I will make no promises; every man and every woman who cast their vote, exercising their hard-won democratic right to do so, I will represent to the best of my abilities; and I will make each and every vote count,” Rey concluded.
Terrance Rey is qualified, experienced, committed and passionate about offering his service to the people of St. Maarten. Therefore, the SMCP is proud to have Atwell Terrance Rey as Candidate #12 on the party’s slate.
Wycliffe Smith
Leader of the St. Maarten Christian Party (SMCP)
Dear Editor,
Earlier this week I saw a campaign message from NA candidate number 3 and former Prime Minister of the southern side of St. Martin William Marlin and it said, “William was right.” I had to ask myself however, William was right about what?
”I stand in full solidarity with our brothers and sisters in the northern half of our island who are fighting for the right to remain on their land, and to clean, drinkable water,” said Grisha Heyliger-Marten in commenting on the events unfolding in recent days in the North.
Dear Editor
Neo-colonialism is the use of economic, political, cultural, or other pressures to control or influence other countries, especially former dependencies.
