Canada and Caribbean unite on tourism

By Aishwarya Marbeer

On Wednesday July 29th, the Global and Tourism Resilience and Crisis Management Centre (GTRCMC) at George Brown Polytechnic in collaboration with the Caribbean Tourism Organization (CTO), hosted a two-day symposium to discuss current issues surrounding tourism in Canada and the Caribbean as well as strengthening the tourism industry.

When we think about tourism, we might only be thinking about the fun, the adventure of going to a new place for an event or to take a break from our current life. We may not see the bigger picture regarding tourism, the industry, and the issues surrounding it and how we can help improve it. This event highlighted that there’s more to learn about tourism.

The event included discussion around climate change, financing tourism resilience, workforce resilience, crisis preparedness, environmental issues such as hurricanes, and the importance of not only depend on tourists alone to help sustain tourism; nature also plays a crucial role in sustaining the industry as well.

Speakers included Elizabeth Dove (Executive Director of the United Nations Global Compact Network Canada); Kyana Bower (Executive Director of the United Nations Global Compact Network Caribbean); Dr. Lloyd Waller, Dr. Hilary Becker, and Dr. Gervan Fearon, president of George Brown Polytechnic.

Elizabeth Dove spoke to The Caribbean Camera, about why it’s important for Canada and the Caribbean to come together to discuss the future of tourism.

“It is, really, because everything is interconnected,” Dove said. She added, “We know for certain the climate doesn’t align itself simply with borders, but challenges such as gender equality, labour, youth employment, and a myriad of things that are around climate action and human rights are really things that can’t be tackled by any single sector.”

Dove added that Canada and the Caribbean share a lot in terms of perspective, therefore, it’s natural to use the relationship to “foster the kind of coordination and co-designing that’s going to be really needed for the future.”

Dr. Krista Holmes, the Associate Vice-President, Research and Innovation at George Brown Polytechnic, emphasized the importance of collaboration to create resilience across sectors.

“It’s critically important that everybody is working together in collaboration. One of the key themes that came out in the precursor survey, leading up to this event, is that real partnership is required in order to create resilience across sectors,” Holmes said.

She added that industries can’t run without people, and that “our governments can work collaboratively together to support investment in people, to be able to create sustainable communities and a sustainable tourism industry.” 

#Tourism #Caribbean #Canada #Travel #Sustainability #ClimateAction #GeorgeBrown #TourismResilience #CaribbeanTourism #Toronto