Phillip Pierre, minister of commerce, tourism, investment and consumer affairs for St. Lucia, was named the new chairman of the Caribbean Tourism Organization for term of two years. Pierre succeeds Pamela Richards, former CTO chairman and current commissioner of tourism for the U.S. Virgin Islands.
Pierre’s appointment was announced at the opening ceremony of the 29th annual Caribbean Tourism Conference taking place at the Westin and Sheraton Grand Bahama Island Our Lucaya Resorts on Oct. 22 by outgoing chairman Richards. In his keynote address at the opening ceremony, Bahamian Prime Minister Perry Christie exhorted CTO delegates to “come together and speak with one voice” to resolve the passport initiative set to take effect Jan. 8 whereby all those entering or returning to the U.S. by air will be required to present a valid passport. “We must persuade the Dept. of Homeland Security to extend the deadline for passports to June 2009, the same date as for cruise passengers. We must persuade the U.S. to delay implementation for air travel until that date to level the playing field,” Christie said.
He admitted that although “it is late in the game, we must make contingency plans. It is not too late to encourage more U.S. citizens to get passports now and to lobby for the U.S. to waive expediting fees so that U.S. citizens can obtain passports in days rather than weeks.”
