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The Ministry of Tourism and International Transport has accepted the United Nations Development Program’s (UNDP) invitation to collaborate on the local leg of the regional Future of Tourism – Rethinking Tourism and Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises (MSMEs) in the time of COVID-19 Project (FUT-Tourism).

Senior Tourism Officer, Jacqueline Pollard, said the COVID-19 pandemic has provided the opportunity to rethink and reinvent the tourism sector and how MSMEs operate in order to reduce dependencies. 

“The FUT-Tourism Project aims to become an out-of-the-box platform that serves to assist governments, regional partners and key stakeholders as well as MSMEs, to ‘Build Forward Better’ in the COVID-19 context,” she stated.

She noted that through the FUT-Tourism Project, technical and financial support would be provided to micro, small and medium enterprises (MSMEs) that are directly or indirectly linked to the tourism sector. 

The project has three components. The first involves regional dialogue and policy solutions for the tourism sector, which would be enhanced through sub-regional and national diagnostics, using consultative and participatory approaches.

The second one provides technical support for MSMEs to retool, and access markets within tourism value chains. The final component involves financial assistance being provided for the economic recovery of MSMEs affected by the impact of COVID-19.  

sheena.forde-craigg@barbados.gov.bb

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