Tourism stakeholders learn more about C.S.M.E.’s impact
This morning the Ministry of Trade made a presentation to the members of the Belize Tourism Industry Association on the likely impact of the CARICOM Single Market and Economy. As in most CARICOM countries, those in the audience discovered that with only two months until implementation, we are woefully unaware of what the C.S.M.E. holds in store. And that’s too bad, because with the free movement of labour and capital throughout the region it should be a new ballgame, full of both opportunities and pitfalls. According to Salas Hamilton, C.S.M.E. communications specialist, your level of anxiety about the C.S.M.E. is inversely proportional to how well you’ve prepared.
Salas Hamilton, CARICOM C.S.M.E. Unit
?If we are not competitive, there is reason for fear. And not just the Belizean tourism industry, but any industry at all in CARICOM, if you are competitive, if you are not marketed, if you are not educated, if you are not qualified, if you are not presenting a product that can be as good as your competitor, there should be reason for fear. It?s just like broadcasting, it?s just like television, if you?re doing shoddy work you?re going to lose your clientele. And that is the greater challenge for Belize and any other sector in CARICOM, being competitive.?
Stewart Krohn
?People have raised the spectre that one day with the C.S.M.E. and the free movement of labour that we will have a nation of Jamaican waiters and Haitian chambermaids and Guyanese cooks and Trinidadian hotel owners. Is this a possibility, likelihood, how is it??
Salas Hamilton
?Well I don?t think there will be any flow, there will be any run over of Belize by the rest of CARICOM member states. Why? Because the statistics has not shown that. At this moment the only five categories of persons who can move and they are not hotel workers, they are not chambermaids. The five categories are the media workers, the university graduates, the sportspersons, the artists, the musicians, and the entrepreneurs. So already CARICOM leaders have heard what their people have been saying and only these categories are allowed to move. And the statistics have not shown that there is any thinking of CARICOM nationals to just pick up and move to another CARICOM country. Because under the C.S.M.E., you are treated as the nationals of those countries, therefore persons have to investigate if the quality of life in that country is as good as theirs. And most times under investigation they might realise food is more expensive, housing is more expensive, there is crime, to move my children to settle them in schools… so persons just don?t move like that. They move where there are economic advantages and opportunities, and at this moment it is limited to five categories and the figures show there is no rush of persons to move.?
The opportunities presented by the CARICOM Single Market and Economy include much larger markets for producers of goods and services, a wider choice of employment for workers, and hopefully lower prices for consumers. The Barbados based C.S.M.E. Unit will be meeting with members of the private sector at nine Friday morning at the Princess Hotel. All interested parties are urged to attend.
