Former President of the Anguilla Hotel and Tourism Association, Mrs. Sherrille Hughes, has described her nine years in office as a successful period for the organisation and herself. She made the comments to media representatives at Tokyo Bay Restaurant at CuisinArt Golf Resort and Spa on Monday evening, May 21.
The event was a reception at which Board members of the Hotel and Tourism Association and the Tourist Board thanked Mrs. Hughes for her dedicated service and welcomed the new AHTA President,Delroy Lake.
“It has been basically a good run for us at the Association and for me as the President,” Mrs. Hughes said in speaking about the work of the AHTA during her term of office. “We have had reason to be involved in the formulation of some policies. We have lobbied with success on behalf of our membership and even though we have had challenges, it has been a successful time for us.”
Asked about some of its achievements, Mrs. Hughes said the Association’s most recent gain was its lobbying with Government not to impose the planned 10% restaurant tax. “We have had discussion and involvement in formulating policies with regards to casinos and jet skis,” she went on. “The AHTA has actively been involved in letting the Government know its position on large cruise ships coming toAnguilla, and we have been very successful in spreading the word about the island’s tourism and where we should be going.”
Mrs. Hughes stressed that there was a need to continue to educate the Anguillian public about tourism, the island’s number one foreign exchange earner, and the need to protect it so that it would be sustainable for future years.
Mrs. Hughes’ successor,DelroyLake, said there was still some advocacy work to be done. “There arequite a few issues on the table to address, including taxes and other matters, which I don’t wish to disclose now,” he remarked. “We want to make the Association work for its members, not only from an advocacy point of view, but also with regards to marketing, so that they would feel that there is some value coming from the Hotel and Tourism Association.”
Pressed to comment on those matters he did not wish to mention, Mr. Lake stated in part: “We are hearing that are some plans by Government to impose certain taxes we have opposed. We recognised that more taxes can have a negative effect on businesses in the hotel industry. One of our tasks is to make sure that our members are not disenfranchised by taxes introduced by Government.”
Mr. Lake, who is the General Manager of Anacaona Boutique Hotel atMeadsBay, was asked how he perceived the current tourism season. “I have to be very blunt on this. To be honest it is going to be a very, very tough year,” he predicted. “For most of the properties, March and April were not as they usually are – and the months of May, June, July and August are way behind where they were in terms of visitor arrivals.”
He blamed this on the high price of travel to Anguilla, limited access to the island through St. Maarten and especially Puerto Rico, warm winters in the United States and the fact thatAnguillawas not a summer destination for American travellers. He also noted that travel was also expensive from such European markets as Italy.
Meanwhile, Mr. Lake said issues of violence in Anguilla were a major concern of the Hotel and Tourism Association. “We are going to be meeting with the Governor, along with Ministers of Government and the Police, to look at what can be done to stem crime on the island,” he disclosed. “We do not want this violence to continue, and we have to find ways of reaching our young people and to let them know how important tourism is to the economy.”
Mrs. Sherrille Hughes joined in supporting the views expressed by Mr. Lake: “That’s where the campaign ‘Tourism is Key’ comes in. It is an ongoing campaign where we have to educate our youth and other persons in the community about the importance of being safe. Safety is one of the key factors which determine our tourism numbers, and we have to ensure that our people are aware of this. It is extremely challenging and we cannot afford to ignore it.”
