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Increasingly functional and modern, Panama City is a reference of renovation and development.

With a 5 percent share of the world GDP, tourism stands for 6 percent of global experts, one in every ­dozen jobs and revenues for $743 billion in investments. It’s a key ally of the business sector and it drives major infrastructure works, like buildings, roads and other projects that boost up both construction and the economy.

With foreign contributions and cooperation among governments, communities, the private sector and NGOs, these small Caribbean islands have just inked the Sustainable Financing and Management of Eastern Caribbean Marine Ecosystem Project that pursues sustainable preservation and management of Eastern Caribbean marine ecosystems –a huge treasure– plus the protection of over 100,000 hectares of marine habitat. The initiative shores up the Caribbean Challenge, a concrete practical action launched in 2008 by the Caribbean nations in a bid to put as much as 20 percent of the region’s coastlines under the protected area category by 2020. In keeping with this line, the different Caribbean countries have been working for years and with that same view in mind the CTO has called on its 32 members to understand the need of coming together, let alone the political efforts conducted Association of Caribbean States to urge the UN to declare the whole region a full-size Sustainable Tourism Zone. The Eastern Caribbean is one of the most important world regions in terms of biodiversity, and that’s owed to the biological abundance of its marine and coastal ecosystems. Yet the region is also threatened by multiple perils and risks triggered by unregulated tourism and fishing exploitation. Consensus and unity in the face of this situation brook no further delay and represent strategic moves for the Association of Eastern Caribbean States (AECS) membership. Just a few weeks ago, this bloc passed a common tourism policy that embraces joint plans on safety and security, transportation, product development, customs procedures, immigration and environmental and cultural sustainability, as well as the free inter-territorial movement for its citizens to work, set up companies or provide services. In the meantime, the implementation of aid coordination mechanisms for member states to cope with natural disasters and other contingencies, as well as for mutual cooperation in the economic, political and social fields, is well underway. AECS members count on a single currency (the Eastern Caribbean dollar), a parliament and a security system. They have partnered with a financial institution that controls their foreign trade and leads the efforts to, among other common battles, handle the controversial Air Passenger Duty (APD) implemented in 1994 and raised in 2010 to skyrocketing heights, a situation that makes a significant dent in the number of air passengers that travel from UK airports to the Caribbean islands. According to CTO, between 2009 and 2010, the number of tourist arrivals from the UK dipped a staggering 10.8 percent. That double-digit trend also showed up in the amount of Internet searches for Caribbean travel destinations in September 2010, down 11.9 percent from the same month of 2009, according to statistics revealed by Cheapflights.cu.uk. Basically for that reason, demand has continued its downward trend and in the first half of 2011 the arrival of British sunbathers to the Caribbean plunged a whopping 20 percent from the first six months of 2008. No wonder this was one of the most talked-about topics during CTO’s State of the Industry Conference held in St. Martin/St. Maarten. Once again attendees resoundingly aired their rejection to APD and labeled it as an ineffective and discriminatory tool against the region. They agreed to continue raising their voices against APD until it gets scrapped altogether. Participants also called for stepping up efforts in reaching out to outbound markets other than the US, the UK and Europe by capturing other travel niches, by opening up to the Latin American markets, as well as to Russia, China and even the neighboring islands that could perfectly churn out thousands of tourists annually if there were less snags along the way and more intra-Caribbean transportation routes. LIAT, REDjet and other major airlines in the region could play a key role in achieving these objectives. Today, air passengers waiting to be flown from one island to another ought to find an intermediate destination, a time-consuming operation that could take a full day and brings up the cost of the trip dramatically. In this sense, the Youth Tourism Congress, also held in St. Martin/St. Maarten alongside the abovementioned conference, also touched the right chord. Youngsters suggested easing travel restrictions for local citizens by making significant discounts on airfares to Caribbean destinations, by slashing duties and creating stimulus and rewarding programs for those who put mileage under their belts when traveling across those countries, among other possible actions. Building on a far more attractive and diverse Caribbean means moving toward offers ponder one-and-only natural values other than beaches and watersports; offers that praise the traditions of the people and the motley and interesting cultural aspects, like festivals and carnivals. That also means easing travel within the region and, above all, developing a more inclusive tourism, not to mention the need of implementing common working mechanisms that can preserve these beauties for coming generations. This sense of commitment and responsibility finds in the Eastern Caribbean countries a magnificent reference of how much can be done and, better yet, how much remains to be done for this region to continue being one of the most sought-after and successful travel destinations on the face of the earth.