BARBADOS: Unresolved tourism matters outlined

Unresolved tourism matters outlined
Web Posted - Sat Sep 20 2003

Minister of Tourism, Noel Lynch, has outlined a range of matters he believes 
must take priority when CARIFORUM countries state their case relating to the 
tourism industry during negotiations on the international trade 
liberalisation process. 
Speaking at the opening of a one-day seminar on tourism hosted by the 
Barbados Private Sector Trade Team, the Minister said that despite the fact 
negotiations were taking place rather slowly and several deadlines had 
passed, it was still important for the Caribbean region to approach matters 
pertaining to the process with a sense of urgency. 

He stated that the Caribbean had to pay particular attention to tourism 
matters given the importance of the industry, but there were several 
differences between the countries in the region that made it difficult to 
arrive at a common position. Citing examples, he noted that the 
Spanish-speaking countries were experiencing rapid growth owing to their 
lower input costs which made them more competitive, while countries in the 
Eastern Caribbean were becoming stronger in the cruise tourism sector. Lynch 
noted that while successful trade negotiations would not resolve all the 
outstanding issues in the sector, they would help eliminate some of the 
challenges it was facing. He stated that the General Agreement on Tariffs and 
Trades (GATT) currently listed four categories under which tourism was sold, 
including cross border supply via the Internet and other sources, visits to 
foreign markets, establishing a commercial presence in other markets and 
“consumption abroad”, where visitors enter the market to consume the tourism 
product. In reference to these four areas, Lynch said consumption abroad was 
the area most Caribbean countries specialised in, and as such the region had 
to look at issues such as duty free limits, visa requirements and taxes on 
visitors, which in some respects could be considered limitations to trade. 
Other matters the region had to bring to the fore included access to 
technical assistance from more developed countries, and new strategies to 
govern air service agreements, which were now worked out on a bilateral 
basis. He noted that CARICOM countries as a whole had not yet submitted their 
tourism services requirements to the GATT, but CARICOM operated at a 
significant advantage since tourism was the mainstay of most of the islands 
in the region, and it had been involved in global tourism planning longer 
than many other countries elsewhere in the world. Lynch added since tourism 
was the largest consumer of goods and services in CARIFORUM states, deeper 
liberalisation of the service inputs to the sector would also go far in 
making it more cost-effective, as well as encourage new and continued 
investment. 


SOURCE: Barbados Advocate