UCF Rosen College Researchers Help Bonaire Become a “Blue Destination”
An island paradise is the last place one thinks there would be concern over the environment and the economy, after all you're there to get away from it all. But, on the island of Bonaire in the Western Caribbean, that couldn't be farther from the truth. Researchers from University of Central Florida (UCF) Rosen College of Hospitality Management worked with the island's government on the creation of a Strategic Tourism Masterplan. On May 30, 2018, Bonaire's Parliament adopted the Masterplan establishing Bonaire as a "Blue Destination", the first in the Caribbean. This means the island focuses on "green efforts" such as ecotourism, renewable energy, conservation of the ocean through waste management and the banning of some forms of sunscreen whose chemical makeup, Oxybenzone and Octinoxate, can kill some sea life, damage coral and disrupt the normal ecosystem in the ocean.