Bridgetown, BARBADOS, September 23, 2015. “The time is ripe for the Caribbean to capitalise on the health and wellness industry”. This was one of the closing comments from Executive Director, Pamela Coke Hamilton in her opening remarks at the two-day Regional Spa and Wellness project closing meeting that commenced yesterday in Barbados. Hosted by the Caribbean Export Development Agency (Caribbean Export), in collaboration with the Caribbean the Caribbean Development Bank and the United Kingdom’s Department for International Development (DFID), regional industry practitioners convened to review the results to date and identify the next steps of the implementation strategy to support the regions health and wellness tourism industry.

As noted by Mrs Coke Hamilton, the Caribbean has a strong history as a major tourist destination and consequently tourism is the most significant contributor to many of the economies across the region. In view of this Mrs Coke Hamilton expressed that “the onus was on us in the Caribbean to take ownership and responsibility for the diversification of the industry to ensure that the region benefits from the changing demands of visitors”.

The global Spa and Wellness industry is said to worth some $2 trillion USD according to Mrs Coke Hamilton and thus “we must address issues such as ensuring that across the region, international standards are being implemented, that the Caribbean brand is receiving adequate visibility and representation in key markets and that the policies and regulatory frameworks are in place to facilitate the development of the sector”.

Following the review of the project over the next two days including the lessons learnt across the region, the group hopes to chart a clear path forward with revision to the regional strategy accordingly to support the growth and sustainable development of the regional spa and wellness sector.

About Caribbean Export
Caribbean Export is a regional export development and trade and investment promotion organisation of the Forum of Caribbean States (CARIFORUM) currently executing the Regional Private Sector Programme (RPSDP) funded by the European Union under the 10th European Development Fund (EDF) Caribbean Export’s mission is to increase the competitiveness of Caribbean countries by providing quality export development and trade and investment promotion services through effective programme execution and strategic alliances.
More information about Caribbean Export can be found at www.carib-export.com.