Tourism Week 2014 got off to a good start on Sunday, November 30, with many persons braving inclement weather conditions to attend the opening religious service at Maranatha Methodist Church at Blowing Point.
There, the preacher was Rev Doris Lynch, of St Maarten, who was accompanied with family members and others. Superintendent of the Anguilla Methodist Circuit, Rev Dr Wycherley Gumbs, and Rev Dr H Clifton Niles and Rev Joseph Lloyd, formed the Anguillian contingent of Ministers at the service.
There were also representatives of the Ministry of Tourism, the Anguilla Hotel and Tourism Association, the Tourist Board, the Anguilla Community College and the Social Security Board.
Mrs Candis Niles, Director of Tourism, expressed thanks to the congregation for accommodating the various representatives at the service. “We are celebrating Tourism Week 2014 under the theme ‘Sustainable Practices for Significant Growth’”, she stated. “There are three types of sustainability that one can highlight. The first is that anything that is sustainable must be founded in God. We believe that as a Christian nation…we are happy to find ourselves in a place of worship, such as this, to give thanks. This is not only for the year of operations that has passed, but also for bringing us through another hurricane season. So we are here to give thanks to God who is our source.
“Sustainability is also about partnerships… and the other thing about sustainability is unity. We as a people have to come together to make this thing, called tourism, which is so important for us, as a nation, work. So we are here at Maranatha Methodist Church not only to celebrate but to give God thanks for the various ways in which He has blessed us.”
Mr James Harrigan, a staff member of the Anguilla Tourist Board, and Pastor of No Walls Church, sang an appropriate hymn: Great is Thy Faithfulness.
Tourism Week climaxes with a gala dinner and award ceremony at Viceroy Anguilla this Friday. This year, thirteen persons will be awarded for various contributions to the tourism and hotel industry and related services (including media and entertainment).
