Ministers of the Anguilla Government, and tourism officials, have taken a close look at the island’s tourism industry during a retreat in the Conference Room of the Club House and Italia Restaurant at Cuisinart Golf Resort and Spa.
Mr. Cardigan Connor, Parliamentary Secretary for Tourism, spoke to The Anguillian about the event. “It was the Ministers of Government sitting with the Ministry of Tourism to outline exactly what the Tourism Master Plan is all about and to get the input from the Ministers of Government so that they are all aware of what amendments need to be made and what needs to be signed off,” he explained. “It was to update the Ministers on the plan and discuss how they, and the Ministry of Tourism, can work together for the betterment of Anguilla’s tourism going forward.”
Questioned about some of the general aspects of the meeting, Mr. Connor replied: “May be not at this stage but, obviously, we were looking at situations regarding jet skiing, as one matter, and gaming as another. This is because, as we look forward to Anguilla’s tourism, there are a number of questions being asked about what is the plan going forward? And what adjustments will be made? It was therefore important for all the Ministers – not just the Chief Minister and I – but also for them to be part of the discussion. This was to enable them to know what were some of the issues or requests coming from the general public, as well as some of the issues on the table. The questions were how we can take tourism forward, and how, and to what degree, we want to diversify Anguilla’s tourism? Do we want to keep the same model that we have? I think these were some of the questions that came up at the retreat; and it was important for all of us to be on the same page.”
Mr. Connor continued: “Access to Anguilla was also part of the discussion. There is an understanding that we need to improve our access – and we need more dependence on our own airport, as well as our own airline, to be able to transport our visitors from Antigua especially; and to have a better understanding of our routing out of Puerto Rico where we use Seaborne. I think, as we go forward, that the capacity at the airport can improve which would enable us to accommodate more flights from mainland USA. Ultimately our objective is to make sure that tourism numbers are up. We would love to think that it is 65% and 80% upwards. How can we best achieve that can come with some ideas for putting this objective into operation. We looked at the last quarter of last year which was down from the previous year, but there were some circumstances behind that – whether because of the late summer or the fact that the school holidays [for visitors] were a week late. Overall, there were more visitors to Anguilla in 2015 than 2014. So we will see how best we can take the numbers higher in the coming year.
“Having the PM Group, as part of our marketing agents in North America, Canada and Florida, means that we have a company that understands the Caribbean very well. The company obviously has its fingers on the pulse of the US market, so I believe that it is a very positive addition to our marketing efforts in the United States. We are expecting high numbers in the coming year.”
Asked whether there were some areas in which to diversify tourism, Mr. Connor commented: “Diversification is always top of the list. Our main focus of discussion was on the tourism market and what we are hoping to achieve over the coming year. CuisinArt Golf Resort and Spa will be having a PGA tournament. It is mainly about business-owners and it is a promotional event for the PGA. That, again, will give us another avenue for sports tourism. We are also looking at having a Juniour Tennis Tournament scheduled from the 12th to the 19th of November. So wherever we can be marketed on the sporting front to bring additional visitors to Anguilla, and wherever we can get that promotion, we will be quite happy to accept it. Our athletes in the likes of Zharnel Hughes and Shara Proctor and Chesney Hughes (in cricket), promote us in the world of athletics and cricket. But wherever else we can open that avenue [including] the Caribbean, for sports tourism, we will be able to add a little bit more to improving our tourism numbers.”
