Barbados - “The time is ripe for the Caribbean to
capitalise on the health and wellness industry”. This was one of the closing comments from
Executive Director, Pamela Coke Hamilton in her opening remarks at the two-day
Regional Spa and Wellness project closing meeting that commenced yesterday in
Barbados. Hosted by the Caribbean Export
Development Agency (Caribbean Export), in collaboration with the Caribbean the
Caribbean Development Bank and the United Kingdom’s Department for
International Development (DFID), r
egional industry
practitioners convened to review the results to date and identify the next
steps of the implementation strategy to support the regions health and wellness
tourism industry.
As noted by Mrs Coke Hamilton,
the Caribbean has a strong history
as a major tourist destination
and consequently tourism is the most significant contributor
to many of the
economies
across the region. In
view of this Mrs Coke Hamilton expressed that “the onus was on us in the
Caribbean to take
ownership
and responsibility for the diversification of the industry to ensure that the
region benefits from the changing demands of visitors”.
The
global Spa and Wellness industry is said to worth some $2 trillion USD
according to Mrs Coke Hamilton and thus “we must address issues such as
ensuring that across the region, international standards are being implemented,
that the Caribbean brand is receiving adequate visibility and representation in
key markets and that the policies and regulatory frameworks are in place to
facilitate the development of the sector”.
Following
the review of the project over the next two days including the lessons learnt
across the region, the group hopes to chart a clear path forward with revision
to the regional strategy accordingly to support the growth and sustainable
development of the regional spa and wellness sector.
