The School for Graduate Studies and Research, Institute of Hospitality and Tourism (IHT) UWI and the Central Connecticut State University (CCSU) recently conducted two workshops on Community Tourism and National Parks Management at the Mona Campus, recently. The workshops were conducted by Carolyn Hale, Senior Project Officer at UWI and Professors Angelina Kendra, David Truly and Ben Tyson of the CCSU.
The workshops are part of a larger project funded by a grant from the U.S. Agency for International Development, awarded to CCSU through the Association Liaison Office for University Cooperation in Development and the American Council on Education. The goal of the project is to further develop the capacity of the IHT, UWI, to offer Masters degree courses, professional short-courses, and tourism-related research throughout the Caribbean region.
Fifteen key regional and local experts from the Caribbean came together at the workshops to discuss the nature of community tourism and national park management in the region. Participants helped to identify the skills and competencies needed to develop curriculum materials on these subjects. These materials will be developed in the next year. In addition, The IHT will launch several research projects over this same period. The immediate focus of these projects will be on identifying strategies for developing community tourism initiatives that take advantage of the expected influx of visitors during World Cup Cricket in 2007.