Trinidad and Tobago has become the UN World Tourism Organization’s (UNWTO) 156th Member State as the country rejoins the organisation after 35 years. The announcement was made by the Secretary General, Taleb Rifai, at the opening of the 55th meeting of the UNWTO Commission for the Americas starting today in San Jose, Costa Rica.

“We are very happy to welcome Trinidad and Tobago back into the organisation, a country which was in fact a founding member of UNWTO as it pertained to the International Union of Official Travel ‎Organizations (IUOTO), the predecessor of UNWTO,” said Mr. Rifai.

“Trinidad and Tobago has placed tourism as a priority within its strategy to diversify the national economy, and we look forward to working with the tourism sector in the country to achieve this objective,” he added.

Trinidad and Tobago is an important tourism player in the Caribbean, a region where tourism is set to continue expanding. According to UNWTO’s long-term forecast, Tourism Towards 2030, by the year 2030, international tourist arrivals to the Caribbean will reach 30 million, up from 21 million in 2012.

The 55th meeting of the UNWTO Commission for the Americas, held in San Jose, Costa Rica, gathers the members of the organisation in the region to debate the latest regional tourism trends, examine the program of work of UNWTO in the Americas for the period 2014-2015, and elect the candidate country to host World Tourism Day 2014. The Commission meeting will be complemented by an International Seminar on Tourism and New Technologies, looking into topics such as mobile marketing, social media, or the role of technology in travel facilitation.