Monday, October 13th 2014, is a day that many Anguillians will remember as the day when “Gonzalo”, a Category One Hurricane, blew down mercilessly on Anguilla for several hours. We can consider ourselves blessed that the damage was not as severe as Hurricane Luis in 1995 or Hurricane Lenny in 1999, but several reports indicate that it was more destructive than anticipated — leaving in its wake several fallen trees; broken electricity poles; downed power lines; and flooding. Someone brought it to my attention, in a “tongue in cheek” manner, that it was the Parliamentary Secretary’s (Haydn Hughes) birthday as well.
When I questioned the relevance of that tidbit of information I was told that whereas “Gonzalo” was trying to destroy our tourism plant and resources with two days notice — “Haydn” was likewise trying to destroy our tourism brand and product with two days notice. The person was alluding to the fact that most people were only aware of the hurricane less than forty-eight hours before its arrival — and the Parliamentary Secretary (and Marvet Britto) had invited the people of Anguilla within less than forty-eight hours to a public consultation to discuss the rebranding of Anguilla as a tourist destination. Both those natural and human events were disasters that left the Anguillian community in a state of shock.
With regards the natural disaster it seems certain that despite some setbacks and inconveniences Anguilla will rebound quickly after Gonzalo. The utility companies; the public sector; the private sector; the homeowners; and the businesses all have implemented and, in many cases, completed their recovery operations. And, in general, the island seems almost ready for business having been spared the kind of devastation, including loss of life and property that occurs during the course and aftermath of such events. The damage done to our destination and brand, however, seems a bit more difficult to estimate or even comprehend.
For some time now stakeholders in the tourism sector, and Anguilla as a whole, have been observing what appears to be an atmosphere of uncertainty in the tourism industry. It has been manifesting itself in the form of a number of decisions made by the Government that gives the impression that there is no clear leadership and/or coordination among the various departments; agencies; and ministries responsible for managing and directing this very critical driver of our economy. In fact, the Chief Minister on April 7, 2014 sent a letter/communiqué to the Anguilla Tourist Board that clearly indicated that he was unhappy with the way things were going and he was going to take a “hands-on” approach to sorting them out. Unfortunately, by April 10, just three days later, the Director of Tourism responded with a very detailed and clinical response that brought into question, and indeed refuted, many of the claims made by the Chief Minister in that same letter.
The exchange made it obvious that not only were the various agencies at loggerheads about a number of issues, but also that the contractors hired by Government (the Cheryl Andrews Agency and the Britto Agency) to carry out the marketing and public relations for Anguilla were also working at cross purposes. In fact, to the “naked eye”, it appeared that the Government was employing two agencies at great expense to do almost the same job. It was further obvious that one of those private contractors was hired based on a transparent process whereas it remains questionable how the other was engaged.
The Chief Minister’s communiqué effectively took the control of Tourism Marketing and Promotion out of the hands of the ATB; muzzled the ATB’s decision-making function; cut off funding to the Cheryl Andrews Marketing programs; placed the Britto Agency into a leadership position in the rebranding of Anguilla’s Tourism and the oversight of all national and international events; and established a new link in the chain of command between the Ministry and the ATB, namely, the Oversight Committee TIR. All these changes were made through directives from the Chief Minister on the basis of claims that the ATB was dysfunctional; irresponsible; and lacked accountability. The communiqué further indicated that with regard to the remedies being requested by the Chief Minister some were to be effected immediately and all others within 48 hours.
It was not surprising that within three days of the CM’s communiqué (April 10, 2014) the ATB responded. Their main claim was that much of what was written in the CM’s letter came as a result of “inaccurate and misguided” information. And, using a most surgical approach, the ATB provided proof of their contentions that the Chief Minister’s communiqué was based on inaccurate statements and mis-information. The ATB also pointed out the irony of the Chief Minister’s claim that members of staff of the ATB were not being good stewards of taxpayers money, while he was in fact issuing a directive to “ring-fence” funds for the Britto Agency that could approach 50% of the overall marketing budget of the ATB. In other words, the Chief Minister’s directive was yet another example of the belief that the rules are for others and not for him or the Parliamentary Secretary.
To further complicate the issue, a group of owners and managers of properties – in the mid-tier sector of Anguilla’s accommodation plant – wrote a letter to the Chief Minister on July 29, 2014 requesting an urgent meeting to discuss the fact that his directives had the effect of almost completely closing down marketing activities for Anguilla as a Tourist Destination. The letter stated (in part) that “we cannot afford to continue on a path where there is virtually no activity with regard promoting Anguilla in our bread and butter markets, especially the North East corridor, Canada and direct to consumer online marketing”. To date there has been no response from the Chief Minister to this letter or the request for an urgent meeting.
The point I am making is that not only is there confusion among the players involved in the leadership of our tourism sector, but it also appears that we are in a mad rush to make changes to our brand without giving proper consideration to the views of the stakeholders in the sector that were recently obtained in the extensive research done during the development of the Tourism Master Plan. Furthermore, some of the attendees at the public consultation for the rebranding exercise have indicated that they have not derived any comfort from the quality of the presentations delivered on Friday October 11, 2014.
There are many questions that are being asked regarding this exercise. One of the most frequent is: “Why again change ‘tranquility wrapped in blue’ when it is the overwhelming choice as it relates to the existing product and is in keeping with the vision? The people of Anguilla have already spoken in the Master Planning exercise. The plan is to guide the development of tourism over a ten-year period. How often are we going to go through the same exercise and lay waste hundreds of thousands of dollars and valuable man hours?
Someone said that there may have been a bright side to Hurricane Gonzalo – as there usually is to every situation that the almighty visits upon his people through the elements. That persons claimed that Gonzalo postponed the World Travel Awards that were heading towards a failure, and perhaps has also postponed the timing of the rebranding exercise. In which case it is conceivable that we may have been saved by the bell!
