Inter-American Development Bank rolls out Beyond Tourism Innovation Challenge

Published by BBN Staff at June 18, 2020

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Posted: Thursday, June 18, 2020. 7:07 pm CST.

By BBN Staff: In response to the damage that the COVID-19 pandemic has done to tourism within Latin America and the Caribbean, the Inter-American Development Bank is rolling out a new project called the “Beyond Tourism Innovation Challenge” to revitalize the sector.

The initiative comes out of the IDB’s innovation laboratory, (IDB Lab) and will be done in collaboration with the United Nations World Tourism Organization (UNWTO).

The IDB said that the challenge aims to identify innovations in two categories: Development of the tourism labour force, which needs to acquire new digital skills for the recovery phase; and environmental sustainability, which includes implementing waste-management measures through circular economy models as well as climate-smart agricultural practices.

“Requests for non-reimbursable financing for technical assistance can go from US$250,000 to US$500,000. In the case of loans, amounts can range from US$500,000 to US$2,000,000. Applicants will be expected to contribute at least 50% of the project’s total budget,” the IDB said.

The project will be implemented in 15 countries: Bahamas, Barbados, Belize, Costa Rica, Dominican Republic, El Salvador, Guatemala, Guyana, Haiti, Honduras, Jamaica, Nicaragua, Panama, Suriname, and Trinidad and Tobago.

The IDB’s data shows that tourism accounted for 39.3 percent of all employment in Belize for 2019 and also contributed 37.2 percent of GDP, which was up from 35.9 percent in 2018.

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