Like any ambitious and visionary Anguillian youngster, still in school at the time, Natasha Richardson developed an interest in the hospitality industry and worked towards her goal. Today, still a very youthful person, she is a highly qualified and passionate hospitality and tourism executive.
She was recently appointed Destination Experience Manager with the Anguilla Tourist Board. She told The Anguillian: “I grew up in Anguilla. I went to primary school and high school where I did my sixth form programme and my Associate Degree in Business Management. I went to New York in 2008 where I completed my Hospitality Degree and also my MBA, at Munroe College, thus completing my studies in 2012. I took a year off between those two programmes but I have been working with the Raddison Hotel in New York for six and a half years as a Front Office Manager, Director of Operations and Sales Manager – so hospitality is my first love. I want to come on the tourism spectrum now.”
She was speaking to the newspaper at The Valley Street Festival, the opening event of Tourism Week 2016. A very articulate and highly-motivated young woman, she spoke passionately about her new job with the Anguilla Tourist Board.
“As Destination Experience Manager, there is a lot to be done and I am excited about it,” she explained. “One of the main things we want to do is to work on the partnership and communication between the Tourist Board and the private sector. We also want to start doing more community outreach, and part of propelling that is the Roving Reporter [programme] which we will be doing on Thursday, December first. We will be working with our different media partners in ideal street locations on Anguilla, and will be speaking to different persons in the public on what tourism means to them and how it affects their livelihood. We really want to get back in the schools as well to spread the message. We have all said tourism is everybody’s business. We don’t want to lose sight of that – and so we want to get back out there and start giving that message loud and clear.
“I will also be working with the different smaller properties on Anguilla – we call them ‘the Charming Escapes’ – to help them with branding, and so forth, because we want to work on the overall experience of Anguilla. That means that every person on Anguilla has to come to a place where tourism is important to them because when our guests come here, you never know who they may run into. We want to make sure that every part of their trip to Anguilla – the flight or ferry, and the immigration and customs process – is all at a level that immediately brings forward and relays the image that we want Anguilla to have.”
Mr. Cardigan Connor, Parliamentary Secretary, Tourism, who listened to the interview, was asked how he saw her performance on the job developing. “Well, you asked her one question and you got enough information you possibly can,” he commented to The Anguillian. “One of the things we talk about in Anguilla is bringing youth and experience on board and when we can have both in the same package, we are very fortunate. Without doubt, our Tourist Board, which really is the voice of tourism here in Anguilla, has been struggling for years. We now believe that we can build a team which will take tourism to a new height.”
