The Caribbean Hotel Association (CHA) has commissioned the World Travel & Tourism Council (WTTC) to produce a report, which is sponsored by American Express, on the impact of Travel & Tourism on the economy and jobs in 27 Caribbean countries individually and collectively.  The Tourism Satellite Accounting research, which serves as the model for the report, has already been completed by WTTC’s economic team at Oxford Economics.  The next step is the preparation of the Travel & Tourism policy analysis and set of recommendations. This will include a series of public and private sector focus group sessions, which will be conducted in destinations across the region, during the month of April 2004.  The focus group discussions will be led by Mr. Richard Miller, Executive Vice President of WTTC; they are intended to add depth and breadth to the issues and to provide WTTC’s research team with insight and knowledge that can be used effectively to present the policy issues in the report.

The destinations that will be visited in April are: Bahamas, Barbados, Curaçao, Dominican Republic, Grenada, Jamaica, Puerto Rico, and St. Lucia.

The Caribbean Report will follow on the footsteps of a number of highly visible and successful projects recently completed by WTTC in China/Hong Kong, India, the APEC Region, Croatia, Montenegro, and The Algarve, which have set the agenda for the development of the tourism industry worldwide.  “By joining forces with WTTC we hope to raise the level of awareness and discussion in the Caribbean about Travel & Tourism’s economic contribution and the policy issues that are critical to help us tap the full potential of our industry,” said CHA Director General Alec Sanguinetti.

CHA and American Express expect to present this research study at upcoming annual hotel industry conference, CHIC 2004, to be held June 10-14, 2004, in Puerto Rico. 
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