The Caribbean Tourism Organization (CTO) has announced the postponement of its annual Caribbean Conference on Sustainable Tourism Development, otherwise referred to as the Sustainable Tourism Conference (STC). The current global situation has made it difficult for countries and delegates to give their full attention to the conference, therefore, after much consideration, CTO has take the decision to defer the conference, said Hugh Riley, the regional tourism development agency’s interim secretary general. However, while the event is not being staged this year, a significant amount of interest has already been shown by some CTO member countries in hosting the event in 2010, added Mr. Riley. “The event in 2010 will continue with the focus on how member states can design and implement sustainable tourism policies and practices into their regional and international initiatives, with an emphasis on sustainable tourism issues of special interest to the host country,” the interim secretary general said. “We recognize that the development of the tourism sector in the Caribbean has to continue on a sustainable path, and we will continue to address pertinent sustainable tourism issues throughout the year in the programs and projects under our sustainable tourism division, for the benefit of our member countries. We expect the event in 2010 to return stronger than ever,” he added. In the meantime, CTO is coordinating a range of events in 2009 including: The Tourism Human Resources Conference in Curacao (May 27-29), a meeting focusing on developing inspirational leadership for Caribbean tourism; Caribbean Week in New York (June 8-12), an event bringing together the most influential policy makers, marketing professionals, and tourism industry officials to interact and discuss both tourism and investment opportunities in the region; and the Second Annual Caribbean Tourism Summit (ACTS) in Washington, DC (June 9-10), a business-focused summit including meetings on Capitol Hill, as well as internal meetings between CTO and Caribbean Hotel & Tourism Association officials attended by delegates from the Caribbean region. INSIDE GRENADA NEWS