Chairman of the Caribbean Tourism Organisation (CTO), Sen. Richard Skerritt has warned the region not to allow local political partisan interests to undermine the Caribbean’s main income earner.
Skerritt, who is also Minister of Tourism and International Transport in St Kitts and Nevis, said given the challenges of the current world economy, there is an urgent need for all sectors in each island to work closer together.
Speaking at a tourism seminar in Grenada, he said local politicians must put aside their own partisan interests to ensure that the region’s tourism sector survives these times.
“Our tourism must be protected from the partisan tribalism that often divides us in these islands. We don’t have to like each other to work together in the national interest,” Skerritt explained.
The St Kitts and Nevis tourism minister said the common national interest of preserving the crucial tourism sector must trump all other considerations.
Skerritt said an eminent danger to regional tourism is what he called local “political stupidity.”
