Seminar on 'Investing in Agrotourism Development in the Caribbean Region’

A seminar on 'Investing in Agrotourism Development in the Caribbean Region’ will be held on Thursday 10 October 2013 during Caribbean Week of Agriculture (CWA) 2013. The issue of strengthening the links between agriculture and tourism has been on the Region’s political and economic development agendas for a considerable time. The potential to improve the value added from tourism through increasing the level of trade in fresh and processed foods and other domestically produced goods and services is a goal that is shared by policy makers and the private sector, in both the agriculture and tourism sectors.

Forging agriculture-tourism linkages capitalizes on the inherent ability of the tourism sector to diversify the Caribbean economy, stimulate entrepreneurship, catalyze investment and assist in wider social development in our rural communities. Such linkages offer unprecedented opportunities to shore up agricultural production, stimulate the rapid growth in “new” agriculture, create employment along the Tourism Value Chain, and build resilience and sustainability of Caribbean economies. The latter is particularly critical for reducing the high levels of leakage of foreign exchange from tourism (as much as 90% in the Bahamas and 50% in Barbados), preserving patrimony and cultural identity, enhancing food and nutrition security and reducing poverty in local communities, and promoting local awareness and good practices with respect to climate change and environmental issues.

Source: CTA