The Anguilla Chamber of Commerce and Tourism held its formal Annual General Meeting at Aleta Restaurant at Four Seasons Resort on Wednesday, June 7, its first function there since the property was acquired by the highly-acclaimed world-wide chain of hotels.
Mr. Keithley Lake, the Chamber’s President, took the opportunity to thank the Management of Four Seasons for hosting the meeting and complimented it for being “recognised as the world’s foremost hotel management company.” In recounting the visitor arrival statistics and the growth of tourism facilities, including the presence of Four Seasons, he noted that “recent changes in the industry portend better times ahead”. He was of the view that the Chamber was “positive that the [tourist] numbers for 2017 will be reflective of this.” He was also delighted that the problems affecting Cap Juluca were now over, taking into account the recent acquisition of that resort by Belmond, the operator of a chain of luxury hotels and other luxury properties such as the Orient Express.”
Mr. Lake pledged that the Chamber would continue to bring together the tourism industry and the Government to achieve greater progress in tourism for Anguilla. Still referring to the industry, he went on:
“The Chamber has accepted the fact that, for the foreseeable future, economic growth will depend in large measure on how tourism grows. We hope the Government and the tourism sector will seek to work together for the growth of this sector. Our members have brought to our attention that increasingly, the hotel sector is being shut out of meaningful opportunities for our members to bid on supply contracts. This has to be addressed. Our intention is to engage the Ministry of Finance to facilitate a meaningful dialogue between businesses and the hotel sector in an attempt to increase the participation of our members in the provision of goods and services.”
The President of the Chamber’s wide-ranging address covered various aspects of business matters as well as such matters as tourism, financial services and construction which he said were continuing to be recognised as the pillars of Anguilla’s economy. He observed, however, that there were noticeable declines in these sectors.
In concluding his address, Mr. Lake had this to say: “It is my hope that the emerging cooperation between the Chamber and Government will hit its stride in 2017. We fully expect the recommendations of the Business License Committee [recently established by Executive Council], to be a major positive for our members. In addition, the work of the public/private sector group on “distribution” issues will yield tangible changes for the benefit of our local businesses. It is our hope that there will be much more meaningful cooperation between Government and the hospitality industry to enhance the visitor experience and yield tangible benefits for our guests.
“I urge our financial policymakers to address the shortcomings in our banking system. Finally, we need to continue to hold each other accountable. It is never personal, it is all about Anguilla. It’s all about positive results.”
There was a lively question and answer period when various matters relating to business and trade were discussed.
Meanwhile, now that the Annual General Meeting of the Chamber is over, the re-elected executive members, under the leadership of President Keithley Lake, now have the task to take the business organisation into another challenging year of activity.
