OAS to Help Artisan Groups Capitalize on Growth in Tourism Industry

Basseterre; St. Kitts - The Organization of American States (OAS) in collaboration with Aid to Artisans (ATA) is providing funding for a multinational project that will help local producers of handicrafts, furnishings, specialty foods and other hand-made products in St. Kitts and Nevis, to capitalize on the economic growth created by the tourism industry.

Designed as a pilot, the SOURCE (Supporting Caribbean Enterprises) project will help Artisans better access the lucrative tourist market as an avenue of income and revenue. It will also assist local producers to position themselves to increase sales of their products to hotels and resorts on St. Kitts and Nevis.

Presented by the Government of Antigua and Barbuda, and implemented by the OAS and ATA in collaboration with the Caribbean Hotel Association (AHA), the Caribbean Tourism Organization (CTO) and a net work of local organizations, the project will take an innovative, market-driven approach to trade development, enhancing the competitiveness of local producers, while also engaging CHA’s 1,000 member resorts as partners in developing strategies that address barriers to local purchasing. It will also work at the marketing level to increase resort awareness of local product lines and convenience of purchasing products at the production level.   ~~Adz:Right~~

OAS Representative in the Federation of St. Kitts and Nevis, Starret D Greene said that the local tourism market offered Artisans unlimited sales opportunities, having regard to the annual influx of visitors to the Federation who are eager for locally-created and culturally linked products.

“Because of this OAS funded project, local enterprises would be positioned to expand their businesses, through increase purchasing of their products,” the OAS official concluded.

Karla Hostetler, from Aid to Artisans visited the Federation and met with artisan groups on St. Kitts on Friday and their Nevisian counterparts the following day to arrange for their participation in the multinational project.