Promoting and improving sustainable tourism
Tourism
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In the short-term, travel and tourism is expected to continue to be negatively affected by the downturn in global economies, increasing unemployment, reduced disposable incomes and reduced demand for leisure and business travel.Ā However, UNWTO has made the observation that āpast experience has shown that travel and tourism always rebounds from cyclical downturns - sometimes even stronger than beforeā .Ā Indeed, the 6.5% average annual growth rate in international arrivals over the period 1950 to 2005 is evidence of the sectorās resilience and robustness over the long-term.
In the short-term, travel and tourism is expect ed to continue to be negatively affected by the downturn in global economies, increasing unemployment, reduced disposable incomes and reduced demand for leisure a nd business travel. However, UNWTO has made the observation that āpast experience has shown that travel and tourism always rebounds from cyclical downturns - sometimes even stronger than beforeā. Indeed, the6.5% average annual growth rate in international arrivals over the period 1950 to 2005 is evidence of the sectorās resilience and robustness over the long-term.
Within the services sector tourism is the mainstay of the majority of regional economies. This is particularly the case of the smaller economies of CARICOM, where tourism plays an important social role and has a major impact on their financial stability and their external position. The United States constitutes the main tourist market for the larger Caribbean countries, including those of the Hispanic Caribbean, the Dutch West Indies, the French West Indies and the US territories, and accounts for 53% of the total number of tourist arrivals followed by Europe (23%).
The Caribbean Regional Sustainable Tourism Development Programme (CRSTDP)
The Caribbean Sustainable Tourism Policy Framework is an output of the Caribbean Regional Sustainable Tourism Development Programme (CRSTDP);an intervention of the 8th European
Development Fund (EDF) implemented in the period 2005 to 2008.