Taxi-drivers in Anguilla, many with costly transport vehicles, who are organised in an influential association, have joined the unemployment ranks on the island. And, like several hundreds of persons, they are getting limited financial assistance from the Social Security Board and the Government.
The continuing closure of the borders of Anguilla, and the hotels, as a result of Covid-19, has shutdown the tax-service, an important ancillary service of the tourism industry. It was thought that, with the soft-opening of the industry, in terms of villas, taxi-drivers would benefit significantly from some employment but, given the health and other protocols, this does not altogether appear to be the case. According to the President of the Anguilla Taxi Association, Mr. Wilmoth Hodge, it has been arranged for particular agencies to handle the bookings and transportation of visitors going to the villas.
Hodge, who is a Methodist Minister-in-Training, and is often busy with church work, carries the title “Reverend”. Speaking in his capacity as President of the Taxi Association, he told The Anguuillian newspaper:
“As you know, the island has been shutdown since March 22nd, 2020. What that means is that taxi-drivers, who depend mainly on tourism for their livelihood, have not had any work since the island was shutdown several months ago. So, this is indeed a difficult time for taxi-drivers. Many taxi-drivers have had to depend upon the unemployment benefits from either Social Security or directly by the Government of Anguilla. The Taxi Association has been engaging its members in discussions. We have had at least three meetings to look at how we can prepare ourselves to participate in the new environment – once the economy opens back up. But, as you know, it is not going to be the same. We are waiting to see what happens. It does not depend on us. It depends on the Government of Anguilla as well as the countries from where we expect to get most of visitors.
“As of now, what we have discussed, as taxi-drivers, is to put in place the relevant protocols that will ensure that we keep safe if we have to transport visitors to our island; and to ensure their safety as well. We have been discussing how we can best do that; and there are protocols that have already been established for us to operate in this new environment. Some of those protocols will put some additional expense on taxi-drivers whose finances have already been depleted because of loss of income due to the Covid-19 situation.”
The Anguillian mentioned to Reverend Hodge the current soft opening of the tourism industry to visitors applying to travel to Anguilla – and the likelihood that at least this could provide some employment for taxi-drivers. He replied:
“The soft opening will be catered mainly to villa compounds. What I understand is that such situations are handled by agents – who will book the properties, as well as make arrangements for transportation directly with companies and persons who are prepared to handle those services. So, as it is right now, I don’t believe that taxi-drivers will benefit in total from this situation. The soft reopening phase is one where you may have visitors coming to the island for ten days. They will not be travelling anywhere while they are on the island. The transportation that would be offered will be mainly from the port to the villa and from the villa back to the port – whether it is the airport or the ferry terminal. There may be a few persons who may want to have an extended trip but thereafter, I believe, they would be free to either rent a car or to have a taxi to take them around. But, my understanding, right now, is that a lot of the transportation that would be needed during this reopening period will be pre-arranged. The Taxi Association will do all that we can to ensure that persons who want to participate in that arrangement can do so.”
The President of the Taxi Association indicated that now, that the tourism industry is in a temporary state of closure, it can be appreciated how vital it is to the economy and those whose livelihood depends on it. “The tourism sector is in our lives,” he stated. “It is important to us, as taxi-drivers, and we are important to the tourism sector as well, including anyone else who works within the industry. We now see the benefits of tourism to our total economy – and we also see the drawbacks for our island when we do not have anything else to fall back on.”
He added: “As you know, Anguilla is a mono-type economy and that has its drawbacks for a lot of people engaged in the tourism industry.”
