Caribbean Times 12.02.2016

NEWS
7
Caribbean welcomes 2.1 million
Canadians in first half of 2016
TORONTO, The Caribbean welcomed
approximately 2.1 million Canadians
during the first six months of 2016 Secretary
General of the Caribbean Tourism
Organisation Hugh Riley said.
This represents a decline of 3.7 per
cent when compared to the same period
last year; and has been attributed to the
depreciation of the Canadian dollar with
respect to the US dollar.
“We saw the numbers fall during each
of the first six months, with the exception
of May which was flat,” Riley told journalists
here on Tuesday.
“In the first quarter we recorded a decline
of 3.9 percent, and a slightly better
performance in the second quarter,
which recorded a drop of 3.3 percent
when compared to the same period in
2015.”
Eight of the 24 reporting destinations
recorded growth, with highs of 24.9 percent
in the Turks and Caicos Islands and
14.1 percent in Suriname.
Barbados, Curacao, Dominican Republic,
Guyana, St. Maarten and St. Vincent
& the Grenadines registered moderate
growth.
Cuba remained the top Caribbean destination
for Canadians during the first
half of this year, receiving over 527 thousand
visitors, down 4.3 percent when
compared to last year.
InterCaribbean Airways increases airlift
from Antigua to Tortola for winter schedule
ST JOHN’S, Antigua -- Turks and
Caicos Islands-based passenger carrier
interCaribbean Airways has increased
service connecting Antigua (ANU) and
Tortola (EIS) as of November 14, 2016.
As part of the winter schedule, the
airline decided to increase connectivity
between both islands to daily service.
interCaribbean Airways passengers will
continue to have the ability to connect
with British Airways service to London.
Trevor Sadler, CEO of interCaribbean
Airways, said, “We remain committed
to the Antigua market while we look for
ways to better serve the needs of the market,
while maintaining a profitable operation.”
InterCaribbean Airways, founded 25
years ago, is based in the Turks and Caicos
Islands (TCI). The company operates
a fleet of EMB 120, Twin Otters and BE99
aircraft providing service from the TCI to
Antigua, the Bahamas, British Virgin Islands,
Cuba, Dominican Republic, Haiti,
Jamaica, and Puerto Rico. International
services also include flights between the
Dominican Republic and Haiti, and domestic
flights operated in the TCI and
Jamaica.
Suriname will
tow a giant bag
of water to
fight drought
in Barbados
PARAMARIBO, Suriname,
Auke Piek, a 44-year-old Dutch engineer,
says he has a solution to the
Caribbean’s worst drought in half a
century — and it lies hundreds of
miles away in the tropical rain forests
of Suriname.
This week, a boat will tow a giant
bag made from PVC-coated
fabric with enough water to fill an
Olympic-size swimming pool from
Suriname to drought-stricken Barbados
and Curacao. It will be a test
run for a technology Piek said he
wants to expand to other Caribbean
islands, and eventually, as far
afield as the Middle East.
“Water is our blue gold,” said
Erlyn Power, Suriname representative
for Piek’s company, Amazone
Resources. “I visit islands
where people are having their water
turned off and here we have so
much of it that it’s just flowing into
the sea.”
The drought that started early
last year in the Caribbean shrank
reservoirs across the region, forcing
utilities from Trinidad & Tobago
to Jamaica to ration water.
For some islands, such as Cuba,
it was the worst drought in more
than 100 years. And this may just
be the start. The Barbados Water
Authority, which signed a memorandum
of understanding for the
test run but is not buying the initial
shipment, said in a statement that
the accord it part of its long-term
plans to tackle the impact of global
warming.
Amazone has received the rights
from Suriname’s government to
pump water from the mouths of
the Coppename and Suriname
rivers, both of which meet World
Health Organization standards, the
company said. On Tuesday, the bag
was being filled in the Suriname
River, Piek said at a ceremony. The
trip to Barbados was expected to
Continued on page 25
Caribbean Times | December 1-14, 2016