Members of the Anguilla Hotel and Tourism Association, and the Anguilla Tourist Board, busy with the observance of their combined week of activities, took time out to attend the worship service of the Church of God of Prophecy at West End on Sunday, December 1.
The Church also had its own observance called “Consecration Sunday”. In both cases, Pastor Samuel Daniel, the District Overseer and Senior Pastor, advised the hotel and tourism industry personnel and his congregation to “Look up”, rather than down, as a commitment to their responsibilities. He was at the time delivering his sermon based on dedication to duty and looking upas the psalmistwrote in Psalm 5:3; 121:vs. 1&2.
His advice to the tourism personnel was to remain positive in the face of a variety of negatives facing the industry. After the service, he expanded on his remarks in a statement to The Anguillian: “I feel that if the tourism industry is to succeed in Anguilla, the stakeholders must be positive about their offerings and the services that they provide,” he explained. “It means that those who work with them would be encouraged to give their very best. I feel that if those at the top have negatives, it would affect all those who are involved.”
Among those at the service was Mr Haydn Hughes, Parliamentary Secretary,Tourism. He told the newspaper, “We started Tourism Week at the best place: the House of the Lord and the Church of God of Prophecy, West End. We heard a magnificent sermon from Pastor Samuel Daniel. It was encouraging and the words were fitting for the time.
“Tourism fuels our overall economy and we have seen some growth in the industry and hope to see continuing growth. We need every man, woman and child in Anguilla on board with tourism because for the past forty years it has been the vehicle of our economic and social development. We therefore need to encourage everybody, get them on board and ensure that they are all going the same place with tourism.”
Director of Tourism, Mrs Candis Niles, said: “We are very pleased to have been worshipping with the congregation of the Church of God of Prophecy on the occasion of Tourism Week. Our theme is “Embracing our Diversity, Celebrating our Community,” and what better community than the community of God’s grace.
“As we look towards the year 2014, we have to work together as a community to ensure that we maximise the benefits that are available to us as a people, and as a tourism destination, for the benefit of all of us.”
President of the Anguilla Hotel and Tourism Association, Mr Delroy Lake, commented: “It is important that all the people of Anguilla understand the importance of tourism to us. It is not only for economic reasons, but because it has diversity in jobs, and accommodations. As you may realise diversity is part of the theme for this year’s Tourism Week. We want to emphasise diversity in our accommodations. We have from five-star to bed and breakfast; diversity in jobs – from managers down to bus boys and everything in between. I think that tourism has much to offer – not only financially to Anguilla as an island, but to everyone on a whole.”
