Business View Caribbean | April/May 2022

5 BUSINESS VIEW CARIBBEAN VOLUME 9, ISSUE 4 A s part of its goal to support the recovery of micro, small, and medium enterprises (MSMEs), the United Nations Development Programme UNDP Barbados and the Eastern Caribbean has recently formalized a partnership with the Caribbean Tourism Organization (CTO), which will assist in enhancing the knowledge of tourism-based MSMEs in the areas of Community-based Tourism (CBT). This support is multi-pronged in approach and aims to help MSMEs by converting the CBT Enterprise Handbook, jointly developed by the CTO and the Compete Caribbean Partnership Facility (CCPF), into a self-paced and user- friendly online course. Through this capacity- building initiative, which will be led by the CTO, tourism stakeholders will be provided with access to convenient, up to date and innovative training to support their CBT development efforts, improve their business skills and productivity. The Online Course will be hosted via the recently launched Caribbean Tourism Institute and include animated lectures, activity work sheets, case studies, videos and knowledge- test assessments that will form part of a user- focussed interactive e-learning package. “In order to create a more sustainable and inclusive tourism industry, there must be capacity building for both public and private stakeholders within the industry,” Valerie Cliff, Resident Representative UNDP Barbados and the Eastern Caribbean noted. “Community- based tourism provides the opportunity for tourists to have authentic experiences while ensuring that MSMEs are also beneficiaries and guardians of well-developed tourism strategies, which embraces the unique cultural heritage of the region. To realise this vision, collaboration COMMUNITY-BASED TOURISM IS AN OPPORTUNITY FOR MSMES TO AND GUARDIANS OF WELL-DEVELOPED STRATEGIES SAY UNDP AND with stakeholders such as the CTO, the lead regional organisation on tourism, is critical if we want to strengthen the capacity of MSMEs throughout the region.” She also highlighted the need for greater collaboration with regional tourism stakeholders, as a conduit for regional transformation in the tourism sector. The collaboration is being delivered in the frame of the UNDP Future Tourism Project, which aims to create socially inclusive and environmentally sustainable value chains. The Future-Tourism project was developed out of a need to adapt to the new post-COVID-19 environment and to build resilience within the economic sectors of the region. This collaboration with the CTO is one of many collaborative efforts, which seek to improve the long-term socioeconomic and cultural interests of the region. CTO’s Acting Secretary General, Mr. Neil Walters, OPENING L INES