Ganja and medicinal herbs: New path to wellness for Caribbean Tourism?

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Jamaica-ganja
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Written by Linda Hohnholz

Bryanna Hylton, the Westwood High School, Jamaica student who won this year’s Caribbean Tourism Organization (CTO) Tourism Youth Congress, will join the CTO’s program of activities for Caribbean Tourism Month (CTM) which is observed during the month of November.

The 17-year-old Hylton will join an online panel for the Thursday, 1 November launch of the month of activities linked to the year of rejuvenation and wellness. The panelists will debate whether marijuana and/or medicinal plants offer the Caribbean a new path to wellness.

The remainder of the panel include the CTO’s secretary general, Hugh Riley; Antigua & Barbuda’s ambassador to Ethiopia and member of the Caribbean Community’s commission on marijuana L. Franklin “Ras Franki” Francis; Jerry Rappaport, the president of the Grenada Hotel & Tourism Association; Canadian journalist Adrian Brijbassi and Barbadian pollster Peter Wickham.

The hour-long discussion, which begins at 11:00 a.m. Eastern Caribbean Time (11:00 a.m. in New York, 10:00 a.m. in Jamaica & 3:00 p.m. in London), can be viewed on the CTO’s Facebook page.

Hylton was one of a record 18 secondary school students who participated in the Youth Congress at the State of the Tourism Industry Conference in the Bahamas earlier this month. Her presentations focused on designing and creating a new wellness and rejuvenation tourism product or service offering, which has a Caribbean flair, feel and/or touch. She emerged winner ahead of St. Maarten’s Kiara Meyers, who placed second, and Caroline Pain of Martinique, who was third.

Thursday’s discussion is one of a number of activities planned by the CTO in observance of Caribbean Tourism Month, a period during which attention is placed on the region’s most important attribute, its people, as well as the product, profile and partnerships. Other activities include:

  • A month-long contest to determine the Caribbean wellness ambassador, with support from the Grenada Tourism Authority
  • A tweet chat on Monday 19 November at 11:00 a.m. Eastern Caribbean Time during which Caribbean and international students – as well as others – pursuing studies in tourism and related subjects get to quiz the secretary general
  • A social extravaganza on Tuesday 20 November at 11:00 a.m. Eastern Caribbean Time during which CTO member countries will showcase their tourism wellness offerings on Facebook Live.

CTO member countries will also organize activities in observance of Caribbean Tourism Month, which is meant to provide an opportunity for everyone in the industry to open their doors to citizens and to help them understand and appreciate tourism, to help them feel that they too are part of the industry, and they have a role to play in its growth and development.

About the author

Avatar of Linda Hohnholz

Linda Hohnholz

Editor in chief for eTurboNews based in the eTN HQ.

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