A leading travel provider in Jamaica, Mr Michael Campbell, visiting Anguilla for the first time, for the World Travel Awards ceremony, said he was struck by the smallness of the airport runway and its inadequacy to serve the island’s growing tourism industry.
“When I flew here, I was a little shocked,” he told local media representatives. “There is something we need to understand. Tourists cannot swim to your island. You need airlift; and for airlift, you got to extend your runway. Any organisation, like Sandals, or something like that, going into a new destination, the first deal that they make with the Government is that you got to extend your runway and then we bring in the airlift.
“They just got into Grenada. Grenada’s tourism is about sixteen and a half percent – bang! Just like that as they moved in. This [Anguilla] is a fantastic place but if you can’t get people in here to share it, you got a serious problem.”
Asked about his background, Mr Campbell replied: “I used to own a commercial airline. I now own Island Car Rental which is probably the largest car rental company in the Caribbean. I used to own a small airline myself and it is something I am very intimate with. I was on the Jamaica Tourist Board for about ten years.”
He returned to the need for airport development. “It is an axiom which we say to our Government all the while: ‘Remember, tourists cannot swim to Jamaica’. [Likewise], they cannot swim to Anguilla,” he reiterated. “You got to fly them in.”
Told that the Anguilla Government had been constantly speaking about expanding the airport, but that there were some inherent issues, Mr Campbell stated. “There is always an issue, but those who need to get it done, get it done because what they probably don’t understand are the benefits you are going to get from it. This is my first visit to Anguilla and, as I said before, when I flew in, I said to myself ‘My God’, how these people are going to get tourism going?’ You got to lengthen this runway. You got to get jets inside here. Cape Air does a wonderful job, but a six-seater plane is not going to do it.”
