During the recent ITB Berlin 2026 event, leaders from Caribbean tourism emphasized the urgent need for accelerated and financially prepared climate adaptation strategies.
According to a Caribbean Tourism Organization (CTO) release, they cautioned that reliance on theoretical frameworks and disjointed funding efforts is leaving tourism-reliant destinations particularly vulnerable to the impacts of climate change.
In a session titled “The Climate Adaptation Gap in Tourism: From Risk to Resilience,” Dona Regis-Prosper, Secretary-General and CEO of CTO, highlighted the region’s direct and ongoing encounters with extreme weather events. She remarked, “There is no teacher as great as a practical experience,” referencing her personal encounters with destructive hurricanes affecting the Caribbean.
Building upon her firsthand knowledge, Regis-Prosper called for a transition from conceptual approaches to tangible, actionable measures aimed at adaptation and resilience.
She reportedly emphasized the critical role of collaboration between public and private sectors, as well as the importance of media engagement, in confronting the ongoing threats posed by climate change to the region’s tourism industry.
CTO Deputy Director of Sustainable Tourism Narendra Ramgulam also emphasized the Caribbean’s frontline exposure to climate impacts during an earlier session, “These Ideas Will Transform Tourism,” where he evaluated new tools aimed at assessing climate and nature risks.
“When you talk about climate risk, we see it and we feel it more than others,” he said, noting that reef degradation, beach erosion and other environmental changes are already affecting the visitor experience and tourism livelihoods across the region.
Ramgulam stressed that new solutions must work for smaller island states with limited resources. He also pointed to a persistent regional challenge in translating climate priorities into funded projects. “Across the Caribbean, there’s no shortage of climate risk information or project ideas,” he said. “What we consistently struggle with is turning those priorities into finance projects which can actually move forward.”
CTO also reported that a highlight of the convention was the renewal of a partnership between the Organization and The Travel Foundation, strengthening the framework for collaboration aimed at advancing sustainable, climate-resilient and community-centered tourism across the Caribbean. The updated Memorandum of Understanding (MOU), signed by Regis-Prosper and The Travel Foundation CEO Jeremy Sampson, marks a bolstering of the partnership between the two organizations.
Sampson affirmed, “The Caribbean is on the frontlines of climate change, but it is also at the forefront of innovation. This partnership is grounded in a shared belief that the future competitiveness of Caribbean tourism depends on its ability to deliver equitable benefits for local communities while adapting to the growing impacts of climate change. The collaboration offers a platform to align climate action, destination stewardship and resourcing pathways, supporting CTO and its members to ensure tourism continues to serve communities while adapting to growing risks.”
Regis-Prosper noted the partnership “aligns with the CTO Reimagine Plan and reinforces our commitment to leading sustainable tourism across the Caribbean. Through this collaboration, we will work with our member states and partners to advance a shared regional approach that strengthens resilience, advances community benefit and ensures our tourism sector remains competitive in a changing climate.”
CTO said its representatives maintained a “prominent stand” throughout the three-day convention, holding bilateral meetings under a unified Caribbean banner to build partnerships on resilience and regenerative tourism.
In the Caribbean region, TOURISM is the primary industry in every country. I submit that it’s foolhardy for any country to rely almost exclusively on such a fickle industry. No country has any control about how many tourists visit their homeland.
My second problem with tourism is this. Expatriates own the largest hotels and tourist facilities. Most of the profits made is ‘extradited’ to their country of origin. Many are given decades of tax breaks and duty free concessions. Foreigners are given the top executive positions while the indigenous people do the menial work.
To compound things, the governments of these struggling countries have to provide the funding to build and maintain the needed infrastructure – roads, air and sea ports, water, electricity, etcetera.
Tourism is not all bad as it created employment. My point is simply this. It should not be the main revenue earner, agriculture should get the biggest share of the national budget.