KINGSTON, Jamaica — The Caribbean Tourism Organization (CTO) convened a landmark meeting of its newly established Tourism Supply-Side Committee at Sandals Antigua on Tuesday, marking a decisive shift in the region’s approach to retaining a greater share of the economic benefits generated by its most vital industry.

Leading the charge was the Chair of the Tourism Supply-Side Committee and Jamaica’s Minister of Tourism, Edmund Bartlett, who issued a bold call for concrete, coordinated regional action. This would include the development of a Caribbean tourism logistics hub that would build capacity to own the supply side of the industry, a portion of a release from the Ministry of Tourism, said.

Despite tourism contributing between 15 per cent and 60 per cent of gross domestic product (GDP) across Caribbean nations, the region currently retains less than 20 cents of every tourism dollar earned — a consequence of heavy reliance on imported goods and external supply chains to service visitor demand. Minister Bartlett framed this structural imbalance as both a challenge and an opportunity.