ANTIGUA & BARBUDA TOURISM AUTHORITY

The islands of Antigua and Barbuda celebrated International Coastal Clean-Up Day with Minister of Tourism, the Honorable John Maginley and  music icon Kathy Sledge, principal singer of the group Sister Sledge and a frequent visitor to the destination, leading citizens in both the clean up and a tree planting initiative.

 “These community programs will help highlight the importance of biodiversity to tourism and the role of sustainable tourism in the conservation of life on Earth and will help safeguard the range of unique species and ecosystems that make up our twin islands and ultimately, our planet,” said Tourism Minister John Maginley.

Winner of the 2010 Biodiversity jingle competition, Joni Spencer of Sunnyside Tutorial, performed and participated in these initiatives.World Tourism Day is a thematic event held every year on September 27th. Its purpose is to foster awareness, among the international community, of the importance of tourism and its social, cultural, political and economic value. The event seeks to address global challenges outlined in the UN Millennium Development Goals and to highlight the contribution the tourism industry can make in reaching these goals.The theme “Tourism and Biodiversity” is particularly pertinent in 2010. Concerned by the continued loss of biological diversity, the United Nations Assembly declared 2010 the International Year of Biodiversity. The year coincides with the target adopted by governments in 2002 to achieve, by 2010, a significant reduction in the rate of biodiversity loss.