The First Regular Meeting of the Inter-American Tourism Commission (CITUR) was inaugurated Friday at the headquarters of the Organization of American States (OAS) in a session that presented the topics to be discussed during the meeting and elected the highest authorities of the Commission for the next two years.

The meeting was opened by the Executive Secretary for Integral Development of the OAS, Jorge Saggiante, who emphasized the role of tourism in the development of the region as “an effective tool for reducing poverty and inequality.”
“We are convinced of that, and so we welcome and support the work that you are developing in this new framework of cooperation offered by CITUR,” he added.

Saggiante stressed in particular the importance of modern tourism for its contribution to gross domestic product, its impact on job creation, capital investment and foreign exchange generation. In order for this activity to serve as a “tool for development and income distribution,” he added, it is essential to “ensure an adequate initial level of investment in infrastructure”; “structure destinations and diversify into niche tourism that is less vulnerable to the vagaries of the global economy”; and “provide certified quality to tourism products, as well as train properly the workforce to meet the demands of different activities that make up the productive chain of tourism.”

During the meeting, the Committee decided that Honduras and Ecuador would share the CITUR Chair over the next two years, with each country holding the position for one year. Nelly Jerez, the Secretary of Tourism of Honduras, became Chair during the meeting, after which it will go to Ecuador, host of the Twentieth Inter-American Congress of Ministers and High Authorities of Tourism, to be held on September 12 and 13 in Quito. One of the two Vice Chairs of the Commission will alternate between Ecuador and Honduras, while Barbados will occupy the other.

The new Chair of the Commission and Secretary of Tourism of Honduras called on members to “retake the dynamism and resource mobilization in the OAS in favor of our countries in the area of tourism.” She recalled that the priorities of the organization in tourism are: the design and implementation of strategies beneficial to the environment and local communities, the strengthening of the tourism development, support for the training in and promotion of the use of information technologies, and promotion of the sustainable development of tourism.

“It is the responsibility and duty of all of us,” said Secretary Jerez, “to work in the same direction to make this Commission really function” and to make sure that “it will result in a beneficial tool for all of us.”