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The Caribbean Tourism Organization has launched a major initiative to strengthen regional ownership of the tourism supply chain. Led by Jamaica Tourism Minister Edmund Bartlett, the plan includes a Caribbean tourism logistics hub and new support from the IDB and World Bank to help Caribbean nations retain more tourism revenue.
ST. JOHN’S, Antigua & Barbuda— The Caribbean Tourism Organization (CTO) convened a landmark meeting of its newly established Tourism Supply-Side Committee at Sandals Antigua yesterday, signaling a major shift in the region’s strategy to retain a greater share of the economic benefits generated by tourism, the Caribbean’s leading industry.
Chairing the discussions was Jamaica’s Minister of Tourism, the Hon. Edmund Bartlett, who also serves as Chair of the CTO Tourism Supply-Side Committee. Minister Bartlett issued a strong call for coordinated regional action, including the development of a Caribbean tourism logistics hub designed to strengthen regional ownership of the tourism supply chain.
Despite tourism contributing between 15 and 60 percent of GDP across Caribbean nations, the region currently retains less than 20 cents of every tourism dollar earned due to heavy dependence on imported goods and external supply chains to meet visitor demand. Minister Bartlett described this imbalance as both a challenge and an opportunity for Caribbean economies.
“Owning and strengthening the tourism supply-side is fundamental to dismantling the long-held perception that tourism is merely an enclave or extractive industry. The Caribbean must position itself not only as a destination for visitors, but as a region that fully captures and retains the wealth generated from tourism within our own economies and communities,” said Minister Bartlett.
The proposed Caribbean tourism logistics hub is expected to improve revenue retention, strengthen supply chain control, boost intra-regional trade, and create jobs and community wealth throughout the region. Regional ownership at every level of the supply chain would support employment growth in logistics, agriculture, light manufacturing, and related services.
The meeting follows commitments secured by the CTO from two major multilateral institutions during high-level engagements in Washington, D.C. last month.
The Inter-American Development Bank (IDB) has agreed to fund a specialist consultant to undertake a comprehensive regional study on the tourism supply-side. The study will focus on identifying strategies to help Caribbean economies retain a larger share of tourism earnings.
A draft Terms of Reference for the consultancy is expected shortly, with the contract anticipated to be finalized by the end of June 2026. The consultancy is projected to run for approximately 10 to 12 weeks. The IDB has also agreed to continue discussions with the CTO during Caribbean Week in New York this June.
The World Bank has also confirmed its support and readiness to contribute to upcoming analytical work on Caribbean tourism sector resilience, including sectoral alignment and gap analysis.
Regional tourism leaders attending the meeting emphasized that strengthening the tourism supply-side represents a critical step toward building a more resilient, inclusive, and economically sustainable Caribbean tourism industry.
Juergen Thomas Steinmetz has continuously worked in the travel and tourism industry since he was a teenager in Germany (1977).
He founded eTurboNews in 1999 as the first online newsletter for the global travel tourism industry.
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