Derecho del Turismo en las Américas

Tourism Legislation in The Bahamas: Leading the Development of a Successful Tourism Sector T. Jennifer Edwards 1 Earlston McPhee 2 1. Introduction; 2. The Pre-1950 Era: A scan of early Legislation and Tourism Development in The Bahamas; 3. Critical turning point: The 1950s; 4. Modern day tourism: Developments from 1960s; 5. Tourism future; 6. Summary and conclusion; References. 1 T. Jennifer Edwards PhD is a Senior Strategy Consultant in Sustainable Tourism, Policy & Planning and a former Lecturer in Sustainable Tourism at the University of the West Indies. She has over 25 years of experience in tourism development in The Bahamas and in the wider Caribbean region working on programmes supported by agencies such as the Inter‑American Development Bank; the World Bank; the Caribbean Development Bank, the Commonwealth Secretariat; the European Commission; the Ford Foundation; the Caribbean Export Development Agency; the Caribbean Regional Organisation for Standards & Quality; the European Union/Centre for the Development of Enterprise; and the WTO/International Trade Centre. Edwards completed her PhD in Environmentally Managed Tourism at the University of Bradford, England, her MSc in Tourism Marketing at the University of Surrey, England and her BSc in Tourism Management at the University of the West Indies. She has certified proficiency in Environmental Management Systems and is a Chartered Marketer and a qualified Hospitality Assured Assessor with the Caribbean Tourism Organisation. In 2019 Edwards was recognised by the Caribbean Tourism Organisation as a Caribbean citizen who contributes to making the region a special place to live, work & visit. 2 Earlston McPhee has over 30 years’ experience in The Bahamas tourism sector. He has served in various positions within the Government of The Bahamas, Ministry of Tourism with responsibilities ranging from formulating planning frameworks for the development of the tourism sector to developing econometric models to forecast tourism activity and its impact on the Bahamian economy. He has further spearheaded numerous programmes that supported the implementation of the legislative and policy directives of Government for tourism development, including sustainable tourism development and climate change. McPhee holds several certificates in Economic Planning and Management from institutions such as the Indian Institute of Management, the Administrative Staff College of India and the Temasek Polytechnic Institute in Singapore. He also holds a Bachelor of Science Degree in Business Administration from Oklahoma State University with focus in Marketing Management & Finance and a Master of Science Degree in Economics from West Virginia University. McPhee is the recipient of prestigious national and international awards that demonstrates his commitment and contribution to tourism development in The Bahamas and regionally. Upon the end of his tenure at the Ministry of Tourism, he was bestowed with a lifetime achievement award from the Caribbean Tourism Organisation in recognition of the valuable contribution he has made to tourism in the Caribbean region.