PHILIPSBURG, Sint Maarten — Minister of Tourism and Economic Affairs Mellissa Arrindell-Doncher took part in her first Caribbean Tourism Organization (CTO) meetings as part of CTO’s Caribbean Week in New York. As part of the Tourism Ministerial Council, Arrindell-Doncher received her official pin as representative of a CTO country.
The Tourism Ministerial Council is comprised of Ministers and Commissioners of Tourism, Secretaries of State for Tourism or others of equivalent rank and represents the highest policy making body in the organization.
The Minister took part in discussions that focused on innovation and the sharing Economy – The Transportation Perspective, A different look at tourism data and the Caribbean tourism sector’s mid-year performance and Taking the Caribbean forward – Key Outcomes of the June 6 Strategic Planning Session among others.
“We are part of this region and can learn from initiatives that are being undertaken for the region as a whole. Likewise, we can retain some valuable information about how to fine-tune our initiatives based on our market specifics. So the discussions are fruitful and in some cases eye-opening,” the Minister said.
The CTO also embarked on a strategic planning exercise, in the form of a working session, to develop a new five-year plan for the organization, which will be used as a blueprint to guide its focus and activities over the 2018-2022 period.
A Results-Based Management (RBM) approach was used, which focuses on planning, managing and monitoring for results. CTO aimed to ensure that our planning takes into account the global Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) and how CTO’s work contributes to their attainment. CTO is also working on building Sustainable Tourism Development Principles into our planning and program development activities.
