The Annual General Meeting of the Anguilla Hotel and Tourism Association focussed its attention on ways and means of further developing tourism as the engine of the island’s economy, and has set a number of goals towards that end.
Speaking at the event at Viceroy Anguilla on Saturday, November 21, popularly re-elected President, Mr. Delroy Lake, began by pointing out some of the difficulties confronting the industry as follows: “The tourism sector continues to face challenges caused by a lack of sales and marketing for the past three years; a lack of proper air access; low service standards island-wide; and a lack of cleanliness.” However, he gave this reassurance: “Despite the challenges we are facing, we have entered the new tourism season with a sense of hope that the 2015-2016 season will certainly be a turn-around year for Anguilla’s tourism.”
Mr. Lake told government and his colleagues that in January 2016 the AHTA would embark on a rebranding process using conventional and social media to highlight the Association’s role in the Anguillian community. He went on: “If the AHTA and its members are to be successful, we must be able to operate our businesses in an environment that is tourism conscious. To that end, the AHTA, with the sponsorship of some of our accommodation members, will, on Saturday, November 28, 2015, roll out a tourism awareness programme. One part of the campaign will involve buttons which we expect many people to wear and which read: ‘Tourism is key and it begins with me’. Other parts of the campaign will include video clips of ordinary Anguillians talking about what tourism means to them. These videos will then be posted on Facebook and possibly on other social media. In order for the successful rebranding of the AHTA, we are asking for 
the cooperation of our members to freely give information when required.
“In the early part of January 2016, the AHTA Board will be working with Mr. Vincent Vanderpool Wallace, one of the Caribbean’s top advocacy specialists, to assist us in strengthening our advocacy skills and in identifying ways in which we can move tourism forward. The end result will be a stronger and better Association, meeting the needs of its members.
“To many of our members, especially our accommodation members, energy cost is a major concern…In late January 2016, the AHTA will deliver to the Government of Anguilla a position paper on energy efficiency and renewable energy with the aim to remove import duties on all energy efficiency devices; and to change the legislation as it relates to alternative sources of energy.
“The AHTA will start to investigate the possibility of a hospitality workers medical insurance policy by first getting the various insurance companies on Anguilla to submit quotations. We believe that because of the number of employees within the industry we will command great rates and make health insurance affordable for all employees. The AHTA Board has also agreed to look at a pension plan which we have recognised will be a little difficult, but we will nevertheless seriously explore the possibilities open to us.”
Mr. Lake also stressed the need for the AHTA to know the rate of occupancy in Anguilla’s hotels which is said to be around 40%, but without actual corresponding statistical figures. “We cannot go to the Tourist Board and advocate increased spending in marketing if we do not know what the occupancy of the island is,” he added.
Chief Minister and Minister of Tourism, Mr. Victor Banks, prefaced his address by crediting Mr. Cardigan Connor, Parliamentary Secretary, Tourism, for his work in that area of responsibility along with a strong Tourist Board, under the leadership of a strong chairperson, Mrs. Donna Banks. “With the support of a vibrant Anguilla Hotel and Tourism Association, I believe that we have a solid team to manage the sector and take us forward to success,” he reasoned.
Mr. Banks observed that the task to propel sustainable tourism was a formidable one because of Anguilla’s open economy, small size and remoteness. This made the island extremely vulnerable to changes in the external economic environment. He claimed that such changes were reflected in the current economic and fiscal situation in the island. “Not only has the economy contracted sharply, but the supporting financial sector has failed as well,” he stated. “In going forward, the Government has many responsibilities and is challenged to create more jobs and business opportunities, attract more investment both foreign and local, improve the supporting infrastructure to facilitate growth and increase standards of living for all Anguillians. We also have to continue training our people to be able to participate in our development at all levels and to stabilise and improve public finances.”
Chief Minister Banks continued: “The only way we can restore vibrancy to the economy is to pay attention to the needs of tourism. The Government of Anguilla has to pay more than lip service to this sector … and we must continue to re-design [our tourism policy] and re-adjust ourselves and our strategy so as to take advantage of the opportunities that present themselves for profitable exploitation of our industry. In recent times we have been recognising the potential to make a greater contribution to the economy by capitalising on our island’s valuable ecological, cultural and historical resources. I think this has been a very important focus and there are many other areas to which we can pay similar attention such as sports and music to the benefit of our tourism and tourist product.”
The Tourism Minister added: “The future viability of tourism, Anguilla’s main economic engine, must be environmentally, economically and socially sustainable. By its very nature, tourism is multi-disciplinary. This indicates that it involves every sector of our economy and every person in the island. In order to achieve its success, therefore, there must be deliberate partnership between every Government unit and the private sector.”
Mr. Perin Bradley, Comptroller of Inland Revenue, spoke about taxation and other related matters. “We are very much willing to sit with anyone having any tax issues and to try to resolve what the outstanding situation is,” he told the hotel, guest house and villa owners. “If we are taxing you to a point of harming your business, or you can’t compete because you are having an issue with taxes, it means we are doing something wrong because taxation should never be at the point where it is over burdensome to the industry. But, at the same time, tax evasion is not a business strategy as well. I think a lot of folks need to understand that.
“We are very serious about collecting monies due. We don’t think it is fair for some folks to pay and others not to pay. The most consistent thing we hear all the time is a level playing field. It is supposed to be fair to everybody, but that can’t happen unless we take a stronger approach to compliance. That is one of the things we are focussing on very strongly.”
Mr. Bradley advised the tourism partners that the collection of taxes “go a long way in terms of Government re-investing in the industry.”
