“I cannot allow the challenges we face and the issues that we as a people must confront to be smothered or overpowered by this saga and the emotions that they ignite. It would not be fair to my country; it would not be fair to my party. It was about a breach of our Constitution and had it been a person other than Coke it perhaps would never have become the cause célèbre that it turned out to be.” – Hon. Bruce Golding, Prime Minister of Jamaica (Associated Press)

“Whenever you have a lame duck, you create a vacuum. Whenever you have a vacuum, people are uncertain and when people are uncertain they don’t invest.” – Irwine Clare, radio talk show host and Managing Director, Caribbean Immigrant Services (Jamaica Gleaner)

“Who’s to blame? I don’t know. And I don’t care now, because it is after the fact. But it’s a disappointment when a stimulating conference in an interesting, fun destination is overshadowed by botched bookings on flight itineraries, accommodations in decrepit hotels and a complete lack of concern or interest from island hoteliers and local officials regarding myriad problems and complaints from conference delegates. All of us at the conference work in the industry, but we were also there as visitors. That gave me pause. What if a real visitor had bugs in the hotel room (I did, and they were really big ones!) or worse, flooding in the hotel room? …Call me a masochist, but I’m not giving up on St. Martin. I’ve been there before, and I will give it another shot in the future. Maybe this all was just the perfect storm of bad circumstances colliding simultaneously. Besides, the CTO (Caribbean Tourism Organization) still managed to pull off a great conference. Credit where credit is due.” – Gay Nagle Myers, Senior Editor, Travel Weekly (Travel Weekly)

“If someone wants to borrow my field and things become inappropriate, then I say, ‘Enough is enough.’ I wish no ill will against Rihanna and her friends. Perhaps they could acquaint themselves with a greater God.'” – Alan Graham, Farmer, Northern Ireland (The Telegraph)

“The reason we didn’t have phenomenal growth this year was because we lost that American (Airlines) flight. We are in discussions with a major carrier. In fact, that will be this week. If we can get that deal done, it will be a major help to the destination.” – Louis Lewis, Director of Tourism, Saint Lucia (Travel Agent)

“Ecotourism has a far greater potential for contributing to income and livelihoods in poor rural communities than what is realized.” – Edgar Kaeslin, Forestry Officer, Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (UN News Centre)

“For small island and coastal States like Belize, global warming poses an existential threat. While we appreciate that we are primarily responsible for our own welfare and are taking full measures as are within our competence to cope with our changing circumstances, climate change is a global problem which requires a global response based on the principle of common but differentiated responsibility.” – Hon. Wilfred P. Elrington, Minister of Foreign Affairs and Foreign Trade, Belize (UN News Centre)

“Quotable Caribbean” is compiled by Marketplace Excellence, a full service, integrated marketing agency committed to  excellence in the fields of public relations, marketing and media coaching.