Region’s youth forging path of heritage tourism

Region’s youth forging path of heritage tourism 
Web Posted - Tue Sep 16 2003


THE traditional “sun, sea and sand” offering of the Caribbean may not be 
enough to satisfy the tastes of today’s travellers. 
Instead, alternative forms of tourism are needed to attract more visitors to 
the region, Verna Barnett, Project Officer of Culture at United Nations 
Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organisation (UNESCO) said yesterday in 
an interview with the Barbados Advocate. 

Barnett said the need for alternative tourism, coupled with high unemployment 
rates among the youth, prompted UNESCO to develop a programme promoting 
heritage tourism in five Caribbean territories. 

The concept, Youth PATH (Poverty Alleviation Through Tourism and Heritage), 
has so far provided training for over 100 youth between the ages of 15 and 25 
from Barbados, the Bahamas, Jamaica, St. Lucia, St. Vincent and the 
Grenadines. Participants are trained in tour-guiding, craft production, 
languages and culinary techniques to enable them to develop heritage sites in 
their communities as tourism centres. Quoting staggering figures for youth 
unemployment globally (700 million), Barnett said it was important to focus 
on imparting “life skills” to the younger generation. 

It is hoped this training will enable the youth to gain employment in the 
tourism sector and ultimately to reduce poverty in Caribbean communities. 

The sites are established mainly in rural areas. For instance, in Barbados, 
six sites have been identified, including Harrison’s Cave, Welchman Hall 
Gully, Jack-in-the-box Gully and The Flower Forest. In St. Lucia, PATH 
participants organise camp-outs which allow visitors to observe 
nesting-turtles at night. “There are people who could be targeted to come to 
the Caribbean if they knew about some of the heritage tourism sites that are 
here,” Barnett told the Advocate. “Those sites are not very well promoted at 
this point. People come primarily now for the sun, sea and sand, but you have 
folks going to [other countries] for trekking, to look at synagogues. They’re 
going to experience other people’s language and culture,” noted the Project 
Officer, adding that the region offered diverse cultures and history. A 
mid-project workshop to review PATH’s progress got under way yesterday at the 
Blue Horizon Hotel for over 40 participants enrolled in the programme. The 
youth will also be introduced to opportunities for employment in the heritage 
tourism sector. 


SOURCE: Barbados Advocate