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The Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting (CHOGM), held November 1–4, 2026, in Antigua and Barbuda, has reopened an important opportunity for international tourism cooperation, particularly between Africa, the Caribbean and Pacific island nations.
With 56 member countries representing approximately 2.7 billion people, the Commonwealth offers an established political and commercial network connecting some of the world’s most tourism-dependent economies.
Yet behind the optimism surrounding new investment commitments lies an unresolved question: Why has the Commonwealth never developed a lasting, visible tourism institution comparable to its political and business cooperation structures?
The question is especially relevant because Commonwealth tourism ministers pursued precisely such an institution more than 20 years ago.
Antigua reconnects Africa and the Caribbean
Hosted by Prime Minister Gaston Browne, CHOGM 2026 brought more than 3,000 delegates to St John’s under the theme Accelerating Partnerships and Investment for a Prosperous Commonwealth.
According to the Commonwealth Secretariat, more than US$500 million in new commitments were announced for initiatives involving renewable energy, youth skills, trade and economic development. These were broader commitments, not a dedicated tourism investment fund.
For tourism, one of the summit’s most interesting developments was the renewed attention to economic relationships between African countries and Caribbean island states.
Browne met Rwandan President Paul Kagame on November 3 to discuss trade, investment and closer cooperation between Africa and the Caribbean.
Such relationships could eventually support joint tourism promotion, hospitality investment, professional training, cultural exchanges and stronger business-to-business connections.
Africa offers wildlife tourism, cultural heritage, adventure travel and growing urban destinations. The Caribbean contributes established resort industries, cruise tourism expertise, maritime attractions and substantial experience managing tourism-dependent island economies.
The opportunity is not simply to exchange visitors, but to exchange investment, skills, technology and commercial partnerships.
However, limited direct air connectivity, visa requirements and the cost of long-distance travel remain practical barriers to substantial Africa-Caribbean visitor growth.
A forgotten ambition: the Commonwealth Tourism Center
The idea of organized Commonwealth tourism cooperation is not new.
In March 2004, Malaysia hosted the inaugural Commonwealth Tourism Ministers’ Meeting in Kuala Lumpur and proposed establishing a Commonwealth Tourism Center (CTC).
Malaysia’s then tourism minister, Abdul Kadir Sheik Fadzir, proposed Kuala Lumpur as the center’s headquarters, with financing from Malaysia, private-sector contributions and voluntary support from member governments.
The proposed organization was intended to strengthen tourism cooperation and encourage travel among Commonwealth countries.
The initiative continued into discussions surrounding the second Commonwealth Tourism Ministers’ Meeting in Abuja, Nigeria, in 2005.
A Commonwealth Secretariat evaluation subsequently identified the proposed center as an important potential instrument for tourism cooperation, but also raised questions about institutional responsibilities, funding and its relationship with existing Commonwealth programs.
The historical record therefore establishes a serious ministerial initiative, rather than merely an informal tourism proposal.
What remains much less clear is whether the center ever developed into a fully operational, sustainably financed institution with an enduring international program.
That distinction matters. Establishing an organization on paper is not the same as building a functioning institution.
The Commonwealth Tourism Centre’s subsequent disappearance from prominent Commonwealth tourism discussions raises legitimate questions about its institutional history, political support and financing.
Why the Commonwealth Tourism Center disappeared
Historical reporting provides a clearer explanation of the centre’s fate.
By 2007, the Kuala Lumpur-based CTC was organizing tourism capacity-building programs, including training in sustainable tourism development. It also supported a Commonwealth conference on sport tourism in Malaysia in 2008.
However, the financing model was already under pressure.
In November 2008, Malaysian Tourism Minister Azalina Othman Said announced plans to end Malaysia’s financial support for the center because other Commonwealth governments were unwilling to share the costs.
According to contemporary reporting, Malaysia had spent approximately RM5.1 million establishing and operating the institution. Some member countries also questioned whether a separate Commonwealth tourism body was necessary when the United Nations World Tourism Organization already existed.
The center was subsequently closed in its original form. Its Malaysian institutional legacy continued through the Islamic Tourism Center, established in 2009 with a different mandate.
Later reporting and Japanese development-agency research support this transition.
The lesson is significant: the Commonwealth Tourism Center did not disappear because tourism lacked potential. It lost the financial and political commitment necessary to sustain a multinational organization.
CHOGM 2026 creates a second opportunity
Tourism returned to the Commonwealth economic agenda in Antigua.
The Commonwealth Business Forum, organized by the Commonwealth Enterprise and Investment Council, included discussions on sustainable tourism, economic diversification, resilience, artificial intelligence and access to finance.
A session titled Tourism for a Changing World examined investment, diversification and the development of more resilient tourism economies.
King Charles III also identified sustainable tourism as a sector offering opportunities for stronger economic cooperation across Commonwealth borders.
His opening address acknowledged the historical legacy of the transatlantic slave trade, an issue that remains central to relations between Africa, the Caribbean and Britain.
That shared history could provide a foundation for cultural heritage tourism and educational exchanges, provided projects are developed with communities and historical accuracy at their center.
Meanwhile, the final CHOGM communiqué explicitly supported investment in sustainable tourism and the blue economy, alongside stronger transport connectivity, digital trade and access to finance for smaller enterprises.
Importantly, however, it did not announce the re-establishment of the Commonwealth Tourism Center or the creation of a replacement tourism organization.
Could a new Commonwealth tourism network succeed?
A revived Commonwealth tourism platform would not necessarily need to compete with UN Tourism or other established international bodies.
Its strength could instead be a practical network connecting tourism ministries, destination organizations, airlines, hotel investors, training institutions and small and medium-sized tourism businesses.
Regional organizations, including the Caribbean Tourism Organization and African tourism institutions, could participate without surrendering their existing responsibilities.
Initial priorities could include joint Africa-Caribbean tourism investment forums, hospitality scholarships, improved air connectivity, common tourism resilience projects and commercial matchmaking for smaller operators.
A Commonwealth-wide tourism investment and knowledge platform could also help destinations access climate adaptation financing, develop community tourism and share expertise in protecting coastal environments.
But creating another international organization simply to hold conferences would repeat past mistakes.
What should happen next?
The immediate opportunity is for Commonwealth tourism ministers to revisit the 2004–2008 experience and determine whether a dedicated institution is still justified.
A realistic next step would be a ministerial working group, supported by the Commonwealth Secretariat and private-sector partners, with a limited mandate to identify commercially viable tourism cooperation projects.
Such a group could examine three options: restoring a dedicated tourism center, establishing a small tourism unit within existing Commonwealth structures, or creating an independently funded public-private Commonwealth tourism network.
It should publish measurable objectives, a financing plan and a timetable before seeking permanent institutional status.
The Commonwealth’s 2026 commitments also provide an opportunity to connect tourism projects with wider investment initiatives rather than treating the sector as an isolated activity.
For African and Caribbean destinations, the most useful result would be improved access to investment, training, markets and transport—not another diplomatic declaration.
The Commonwealth already tried to create a tourism institution. Its failure offers a valuable lesson. The question after Antigua is whether governments and businesses are now prepared to fund practical cooperation, rather than another ambitious organization without lasting support.
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