Barbados’ tourism could get a significant boost if the island succeeds in having Historic Bridgetown and its Garrison placed on UNESCO’s prestigious World Heritage List.
Acting Permanent Secretary in the Ministry of Culture and Community Development, Celia Toppin, told a stakeholders’ meeting yesterday that a final decision on the island’s bid for nomination to the list will be taken next year at the meeting of the World Heritage Committee in Bahrain.
Toppin headed speakers at the breakfast meeting arranged for the first group of stakeholders at Hilton Barbados. She said the required dossier on the local site, which stretches from the Garrison to Bridgetown, had been submitted to UNESCO, and the next step would be an evaluation by a technical team from the International Council on Monuments and Sites, which is expected to visit Barbados soon.
“One of the things that will be absolutely critical to the success of our nomination is the formulation and implementation of an efficient management plan for the site”, Toppin said.
Chief Town Planner Mark Cummins is chairman of the Barbados World Heritage Committee appointed by Cabinet to formulate and implement an efficient management plan for the site.
Chief Tourism Development Officer with the Ministry of Tourism Nicole Alleyne, one of yesterday’s speakers, explained how aspects of the Barbados Tourism Development Programme would impact on the heritage site nomination.
She outlined the relationship between that component of the island’s tourism strategy dealing with heritage tourism and any success in Barbados’ efforts to secure the nomination.
Alleyne said resource protection and sustainability, tourism linkages and revenue generation, public awareness and sustainable institutional structures, all sub-programmes of the Tourism Development Plan, were four themes embodied within what is being done, as Barbados looked towards the nomination of the Garrison and the Bridgetown area.
Mark Cummins outlined the planning regulations and legislation and the role of stakeholders on the management plan, while Director of the Barbados Museum Alissandra Cummins gave an overview of the nomination, detailing what was required. (GC)
