In the coastal nation of Belize, hundreds of senior tourism stakeholders, policymakers, and industry leaders from 29 countries are convening this week for the 17th annual Caribbean Conference on Sustainable Tourism Development, a landmark gathering focused on shaping the future of the region’s most critical economic pillar. Hosted in San Pedro Town and organized jointly by the Belize Tourism Board and the Caribbean Tourism Organisation, the 2026 conference carries the forward-looking theme “Tourism in Full Colour”, a nod to the region’s rich cultural diversity and varied natural landscapes that draw millions of visitors each year.
In his opening address to more than 300 registered delegates, Belize’s Tourism Minister Anthony Mahler opened with a celebration of his country’s unique tourism assets, from the world-famous Belize Barrier Reef, a UNESCO World Heritage Site, to its sprawling intact tropical forests and the vibrant mosaic of Indigenous, Afro-Caribbean, and Latino cultures that shape the nation’s identity. These assets, Mahler emphasized, form the irreplaceable backbone of Belize’s tourism industry and set the template for sustainable development across the region.
Mahler went on to underscore the outsized economic importance of tourism to the Caribbean that few other global regions can match. Across the Caribbean bloc, tourism contributes an average of 32% to total gross domestic product, a share that jumps to over 90% for the region’s smallest island developing states. Global data underscores the sector’s rapid recent rebound following the COVID-19 pandemic: in 2025, the international tourism sector welcomed a record-breaking 1.5 billion international tourists worldwide, generating $2.2 trillion in global export revenues. The Caribbean alone captured 70 million of these visitors, cementing its status as one of the world’s most popular leisure travel destinations. “For many of our nations, tourism is not merely a sector of the economy,” Mahler told attendees. “It is the economy.”
Yet the minister did not shy away from the pressing existential challenges that threaten to undermine decades of tourism-led growth in the region. He highlighted that the global tourism sector accounts for roughly 10% of total global greenhouse gas emissions, and despite widespread net-zero commitments from major cruise line and aviation groups that drive much of the region’s visitor arrival, emissions from the sector continue to climb year over year.
Worsening this imbalance, Mahler noted, is the profound climate injustice facing small Caribbean nations. While the region contributes less than 1% of global cumulative greenhouse gas emissions, it bears the brunt of climate change impacts that directly erode tourism assets. These impacts include accelerating beach erosion that degrades popular coastal resorts, widespread coral bleaching that damages the reef systems that draw millions of eco-tourists each year, and persistent sargassum blooms that foul popular shorelines across the Caribbean. “Those who continue to create the problems must pay for the solutions,” Mahler asserted, echoing longstanding calls from climate-vulnerable small island developing states for increased climate finance and emission reductions from major global emitters.
Despite these challenges, Mahler highlighted Belize’s proactive steps to serve as a regional leader in sustainable tourism management. The country has established a connected network of more than 103 protected areas that conserve critical ecosystems while creating opportunities for low-impact eco-tourism. It also secured a landmark Blue Bond debt restructuring deal that freed up public funds for marine conservation, and became one of the first countries in the region to implement binding cruise tourism carrying capacity limits to prevent overcrowding and environmental degradation at popular visitor sites.
The multi-day conference is scheduled to continue through the end of the week, with delegates set to hold working sessions on sustainable financing, climate adaptation, community-led tourism development, and strategies to cut tourism-related emissions across the Caribbean.