With high market demand and sustainable travel heightened in the post COVID-19 environment, the Organization of Eastern Caribbean States (OECS) is taking a critical look at its OECS Common Tourism Policy.
The existing OECS Common Tourism Policy dates back to 2011 and the new, updated version seeks to develop a fully
comprehensive and pragmatic policy that supports competitiveness, balanced growth and sustainability, introducing new areas of opportunities specifically within the blue economy.
The OECS Commission had its first stakeholder engagement with senior tourism officials on August 30, 2023.
The tourism policy update is funded by the World Bank’s US 9 million dollar “Unleashing the Blue Economy of the Caribbean’’ (UBEC) initiative with the OECS. It aims to provide guidance on sustainable tourism development, harnessing the potential of the blue economy, and climate-smart and resilience policies to foster prosperous and more equitable tourism industries.
The OECS Commission, through the UBEC mproject, has acquired consultancy services that will use consultation, policy analysis, tourism development expertise, institutional strengthening, research in climate resilience and enterprise development in the blue economy to support the update of the OECS Common Tourism Policy.