(This article was first published in The Anguillian newspaper on 16th November 2002.)
To God be the glory! A thanksgiving service at the upscale Paradise Cove Resort, on Sunday 17th November, is the opening event for Tourism Week 2002. Such an opening is most appropriate because when it comes to tourism, Anguillians have a lot for which they should be thankful. We have come a long way since the opening of our first hotel, Lloyd’s Hotel (in 1959), and our second, the Rendezvous Hotel (in 1962).
Back then, the central government in St Kitts had little hope of Anguilla ever developing a tourism industry and had its doubts that Lloyd’s Hotel would get off the ground. That was made clear in a memorandum which the Warden, J. D. Maloney, the central governments’ representative here, submitted to the Administrator (in St Kitts). It read in part: “Mr Lloyd’s so-called hotel remains, as last seen by His Excellency, [with] just the foundations down. I never had great expectations of it.” As regards other attempts at building hotels he said: “Another individual is building one at Blowing Point but this seems very out of the way. Mrs Carrier (spelling doubtful) is putting up what appears to be a proper building for the purpose at The Forest, and she appears to be investing a lot of money in it. . . . I myself am very sorry that she did not put her money into a large launch which would be extremely useful to us in communicating with St. Martin and St. Kitts, also Sombrero.”
The fact that Anguilla’s early attempts at developing a tourism industry had no official support from the central government explains why one of its (central government’s) tourism brochures, which showed colour photographs of St Kitts and Nevis, had little to say about Anguilla except that, “Some sixty miles north of St Kitts and 12 miles from St Martin, . . . lies a piece of land flat as a pancake in waters so clear you can see the fish swim into the bays from the sea. That’s Anguilla . . . As you beach comb or swim [you can] watch the fishermen come in with the lobster catch…”
The growth of Anguilla’s tourism was relatively slow up until the late 1960s and throughout the 1970s. The 1972 Shankland Cox Tourism Report gives us an idea of what conditions were like and what the few tourists who visited the island thought about it. It noted: “Some of them (the tourists) find the airport terrifying. In general they considered the dusty, bumpy roads a major reason for not staying longer or coming back. Lack of adequate hot water and power in hotels was severely criticised (by them) and everyone was adamant about the need for better service.”
The report noted further that “after a day or two they (the visitors) found the lack of choice of food irritating; they would also like to see a few restaurants and some regular night life activity.”
Another report which commented on the quality of Anguilla’s food was one by A. N. Iskaros. It observed: “Culinary interest is nonexistent . . . Anguilla cuisine has had no particular notoriety or reputation so far.” Those were the days of pea soup and dumplings, corn soup, corn fungi and fish, bush tea and johnny cake and so on. (But they are all now in demand as delicacies.)
Those were the days too when our tourism infrastructure was minimal. According to our first tourism brochure, of the late 1970s, “Anguilla [had] two hotels and a variety of guesthouses, self-catering villas or apartments, all of which [were] small, friendly and informal.” It advised that: “Reservations may be made by mail, but since postal services can be slow it is advisable to cable for reservations that are required within three weeks.”
Good communications were a problem for Anguilla. Apart from the absence of proper roads, air and sea port facilities, electricity and water and so on, a major cause of lack of growth in its tourism industry was its political impasse with St Kitts, during the years 1967 to 1980. Anguilla was in political limbo. The climate of uncertainty about its future did not inspire investor confidence (local or foreign). The Hon Nicholas Ridley recognised that fact when he pioneered the Anguilla Act 1980, through the British House of Commons, to separate Anguilla from St Kitts. He told the House: “The failure to resolve this problem over the years has led not only to political difficulties but to economic difficulties because people have not felt free to invest in Anguilla until the political future was determined. This has perhaps impacted upon the development of the island, particularly in relation to tourism.”
Ridley got that right. The political impasse did have a negative impact on Anguilla’s development. Once legal separation was achieved there was a heavy inflow of foreign capital which led to significant expansion of tourism infrastructure and the island’s economy boomed. There was a flood of hotel openings: Cinnamon Reef (31st July 1983); Mariners Hotel (August 1983); Malliouhana Hotel (1st November 1984); Covecastles (1985); Coccoloba Hotel (1987); Cap Juluca (January 1988); and the locally-owned Anguilla Great House (5th February 1988).
Those hotels, together with Lloyd’s and Rendezvous, were the launch pad of our lucrative tourism industry which transformed Anguilla’s economic and social landscape fundamentally. It transformed a society of independent small farmers, fishermen, shopkeepers and sailors into a society of mostly wage earners working in hotels and restaurants.
Anguillians had to adjust to new economic and social relations. The adjustment was not without its problems which were made more difficult because our governments were not sufficiently prepared for dealing with the many labour issues which arose between employers and employees. For example, in 1986 there was a dispute between the Anguilla Hotel Workers (led by Sydney Gumbs) and the management of La Sante, over money which the hotel owed its workers. Instead of getting both parties together to work out an amicable agreement, the government of the day sent armed police to guard the hotel. Eventually, the workers prevailed but Government had opened itself to criticism that it was siding “with expatriate interests” against its own people.
The industry, particularly in the 1990s, got heavy criticism from some of our leaders. The Hon Hubert Hughes proclaimed in 1993: “We did not introduce a tourism industry to find jobs for the scum of the world especially the European scum!” And in 1994: “The hotel industry is like a rope around our necks because it is turning our people into wage slave earners.”
And I recall Vernon Fleming (1993) telling a public meeting that “some of our young girls and boys . . . get up very early, six o’clock, go all the way to West End just to work for a living. Those people, I heard, are treated like dogs. It has reached a stage where some expatriate threatened to kick some of our people.” Then there was the Hon Eric Reid (1994): “What is happening in some of the hotels today [is that] when the rolls of toilet paper are finished the maids have got to produce the empty rolls, the empty flit can, to the managers.”
There were also disputes over the distribution of service charge. Listen to Cuthwin Webster (1994): “You don’t expect under any circumstances that your boss would use the 10% (service charge) [and] take advantage of you by paying you your salary out of it . . . But there are individuals, corporations here in Anguilla, who, through the permission and the support of our Government, do not let our people get their 10%.”
Service charge is no longer a major problem because our new labour laws provide for each hotel to set up a service charge committee (comprising employees and management representatives) to determine how it should be disbursed. Such legislation was necessary because the labour laws we inherited from St Kitts were made for a sugar-plantation economy, not a tourism-based one. Once the laws were updated the labour relations climate in Anguilla improved appreciably.
However, there are still some burning issues, like redundancy pay and severance pay, which must be addressed without delay. Their inadequacies or non-existence put workers at a serious disadvantage. Our workers deserve better. Their human rights and right to human dignity must be respected and protected.
A most crucial aspect of the growth of our tourism industry is the extent to which local Anguillians have been investing in it. The Hon Victor Banks had long advised (1984) that “the answer to the question of development by Anguillians for Anguillians is . . . that Anguillians [must] participate in the development of the tourism industry.” Good advice which many have heeded. Certainly, the coming on stream in recent years of several locally-owned properties (like Paradise Cove Resort, Frangipani Beach Resort, Shoal Bay Villas, Allamanda Beach Resort, Seaview Hotel, Madeariman Beach Club, Blue Waters Beach Resort, Masara Resort, Caribella Beach Resort, Inter Island Hotel, Elodia’s, Easy Corner Villas and Ferryboat Inn) will ensure that Anguillians reap greater benefits from the industry.
I want to make the point that our governments have, over the years, concentrated on giving very attractive concessions to foreign hotel developers but have not been so generous to local hotel developers. This policy is faulty. It puts local hotel projects like Royal Caribbean Resort now under construction, and which has great potential for employment generation, at a severe disadvantage. Government needs to rethink its policy and give them the same concessions, thereby maximising the industry’s contributions to the island. To quote the Hon Samuel Connor (1994): “Eighty percent of the profit the hotels make goes away, but 100% of the profits that the locals make stays in Anguilla.”
A major industry drawback is its seasonality. The troughs from May to September are of concern and have long given rise to calls for the introduction of cruise tourism to keep the economy ticking. The Anguilla Hotel and Tourism Association (AHTA) takes the view that land-based tourism and cruise tourism are mutually exclusive – that they cannot co-exist. But, as I wrote some months ago, neither has the capacity, on its own, to solve all of Anguilla’s economic and social problems and that it was incumbent upon us to come up with strategies to accommodate both, because we need both. We goin have to marry them, sooner or later.
A novel view about diversifying the industry was put forward by Iwandai during the 2000 elections campaign. He advocated targeting medium-market clientele where the tourists would share homes with locals – and eat at the breakfast table with their owners. In his words: “They’ll eat of the local cuisine and family dishes, right at your table: like johnny cake and sausage, bush tea, salt fish and dumplings, pea soup and even tripe soup [or] what you call belly guts.”
As we celebrate Tourism Week 2002, let us not forget from whence we came and give God the glory. In 1974 when 18% of our total population (6,519) was employed, some 28 persons worked in tourism. Today the number is just over 1,587 or about 28.1% of the workforce and there are people with two or three jobs. The labour force is relatively well-trained. For example, no longer do you go to a restaurant, order say pumpkin soup and the waiter serves it with his thumb finger in it. And no longer does the waiter shine the cutlery with the tail of his apron. By the way, I was at Malliouhana on Tuesday evening and was most impressed with the quality of service. Mickie, Kara, Pumpkin (Marcia), Sonny (John) and others are superb workers.
Now back to the industry as a whole. After it took off in the early 1980s, income per capita had reached EC$5,377 by 1984. Today it stands at EC$20,422. It now accounts for about 28.5% of GDP and for 32% of all contributions to the Social Security Fund.
Notwithstanding that, tourism does have its disadvantages but it has provided Anguillians with a relatively high standard of living. Materially, people are better off. They have better houses, more cars and so on. It has put food on many tables. Actually, it has been claimed, with some authenticity, that “if you have food in your refrigerator, clothes on your back, a roof overhead, a place to sleep . . . you are richer than 75%” of the world’s population. That should tell us that we are indeed a fortunate people.
But our work is not yet done. In fact, the work of nation-building is never done. Government has an obligation to create the environment – the conditions – in which the tourism industry flourishes and allows more people to have food in their refrigerators. There are some who do not have any. In addition, all of us have an obligation to help improve the quality of the tourism product we offer. This is precisely what the Malliouhana Hotel did with the recent opening of a state-of-the-art spa. It is a first class facility which will serve the hotel and Anguilla well.
I digressed a bit but our taxi drivers too, have a role to play in improving our tourism product. Incidentally, I heard Victor saying over one of the radio talk shows, a few months ago, that “some taxi drivers do smell.” If what he said is true, they need to do something about it.
For sure, we got to offer more than sea, sun and sand. In this regard more emphasis must be placed on developing ecotourism. The bird sanctuary at the East End pond is a step in the right direction. We must also seek to promote culture tourism (and support museums and the visual and performing arts). Plans for the holding of an annual jazz festival and an annual yacht regatta are worthy of commendation. Every little thing counts. After all, we live in a global village which is becoming more and more competitive.
Back in 1994 the Hon Chief Minister, Osbourne Fleming, reminded all of us that “tourism is our lifeblood.” I trust that he and his Government do nothing to cause it to hemorrhage and die.
