The Caribbean Tourism Organization (CTO) and Canadian-based tourism non-profit Planeterra have joined forces to support community tourism in the Caribbean. The strategic partnership aims to scale up community tourism throughout CTO member countries with the goal of enhancing the social, economic, and environmental well-being of communities in the region.

The organizations will be seeking funding to build businesses, while encouraging community tourism enterprises towards the training and mentorship offered by Planeterra’s Global Community Tourism Network.

“Four years ago, the CTO launched a program to support the continued development of community-based tourism in the Caribbean. This partnership with Planeterra is a further step in our regional tourism development strategy to support entrepreneurship and community development and is timely in this current environment where we are restarting tourism,” says CTO acting secretary general Neil Walters. “The participation of local communities in the tourism product is a significant part of distributing the benefits of tourism to all aspects of our societies.”

According to Planeterra, many community tourism enterprises have the ability to change lives and keep tourism dollars in the hands of local people, but they lack the support and training needed to develop product offerings, capture the travel market, and draw enough customers.

To address this, Planeterra’s Global Community Tourism Network helps put communities at the centre of tourism’s efforts, and to connect them to travel businesses that can help them to “build back better after the pandemic.”

The network comprises more than 270 community tourism enterprises in 70 countries, all gaining training, mentorship, and connection through Planeterra’s online resources and team, as well as market access.

“Planeterra is eager to partner with CTO to help communities gain access to the resources, community, and mentorship our organization provides,” says Planeterra president Jamie Sweeting. “We are hopeful that this partnership will lead to an increase in support for community tourism in the Caribbean, and will increase the social, economic and environmental benefits that host communities see from the tourism industry.”

For more information, https://www.communitytourism.org