Healthy tourism in the Caribbean: merits for health and the economy

Washington, DC, July 25, 2002 (PAHO) -- The exotic beaches of the Caribbean make it into one of the world's foremost tourist attractions, and the service economies of its countries make the Caribbean highly dependent on tourism. However, when there is bad publicity due to health problems or sick tourists, there can be negative effects.

As response to this problem, a project called Quality Tourism for the Caribbean has been developed. It is a joint effort between the Caribbean Alliance for Sustainable Tourism (CAST), the environmental regional subsidiary of the Caribbean Hotel Association (CHA), and the Caribbean Epidemiology Center (CAREC), a specialized agency of the Pan American Health Organization (PAHO).

The reasons for an initiative of this nature were important: tourism and travel generate more than 30 billion dollars a year of economic activity and represent more that 25 percent of the gross domestic product of the Caribbean.

Obviously, the constantly growing number of visitors increases the possibility of importing diseases to the Caribbean. CAREC research has shown that health problems and diseases among travelers to the region are more common than had been thought, and global changes in information technologies, including Internet, have led to greater care and recognition of diseases in the Caribbean. "Several outbreaks of food and water-borne disease in major hotels and some outbreaks in the community in recent years, have resulted in some destinations experiencing cancellations of visitors arrivals, demonstrating the clear link between health and sustainable tourism," said Dr. James Hospedales, Director of CAREC.

In short, Caribbean countries could risk losing millions of dollars as a consequence of diseases among tourists. To prevent this, the quality tourism project uses a holistic approach to improve health and hygienic conditions for the guests and the personnel in the hotels, using a monitoring system, establishing standards, training managers and staff in food safety, security, and environmental management, and other activities.

"The Caribbean has progressed a great deal in tourism and health", said Roberts-White. "The program has developed standards for the tourist sector in such areas as environmental administration for hotels, security, and food safety; also in safety and occupational health, disaster preparedness, monitoring of diseases and integration and community collaboration."

In view of the fact that the Caribbean is the region with the second highest prevalence of HIV/AIDS in the world, this is a constant concern. "We have prepared some policy directives for HIV for the tourism sector in the Caribbean that are already being put into effect in some hotels, and we are in the process of finalizing an educational manual on the subject", said Roberts-White.

The countries of the region responded enthusiastically to the project. "Leaders of the tourism industry, grouped into national associations of hotels and tourism, and public sector agencies such as ministries of health and tourism have facilitated implementation of the project activities in the countries", she said.

Cooperation in the region has played an essential role in the achievements to date, but there is still a long way to go, especially with regard to epidemiological surveillance. "In collaboration with the ministries of health, we are developing a surveillance system for hotels focusing on diarrheal diseases, respiratory infections, and wounds", she explained.

The project is becoming known in the Caribbean and its consolidation is considered as a great success. For the future, plans include a sustainable long-term strategy, a process of audits governed by standards, continuous evaluations, and a system of registration and certification based on standards.

PAHO, which also serves as the Regional Office for the Americas of the World Health Organization, was established in 1902. The oldest health organization in the world, PAHO works on with all the countries of the Americas to improve the health and raise the living standards of their peoples.