It’s about time! Those were my first thoughts on hearing the news that the possibility of direct flights from the US mainland to Anguilla is close to becoming a reality. It is a sad state of affairs that, in 2019, access to Anguilla is still an issue. It is paradoxical to say we have an economy that is tourism based and still have an access problem. Addressing that singular issue can be the game-changer for the tourism industry. In my view, either we are all the way in — doing what needs to be done for the industry to thrive — or we must be content with average visitor arrivals and low occupancy rates.
While I am an advocate for less dependence on the tourism industry, because in many ways it is reminiscent of the plantation culture, given Anguilla’s limited resources for development and the need to capitalize on the beauty of our natural environment for our own livelihood, it’s our best option for creating employment for a significant portion of our population and, as such, it must be preserved. But getting visitors here is one thing — what they experience when they arrive is another.
If we are to be honest with ourselves, we would admit that Anguilla’s beauty lies mainly on its coastline. When one drives around Anguilla, it is not generally a pretty island by Caribbean standards. One may even say it is a bit “scruffy”. We may want to call that “unique”, to use our favourite word to describe Anguilla but, frankly, it is unattractive and we should make more of an effort in the upkeep of our environment. This includes painting our homes, planting trees and flowers in our yards, creating green spaces throughout the island, cleaning up the roadside bush and, most importantly, disposing properly of our litter. These little things can make a big difference to the visitor experience — and even our own experience as everyday residents.
Tourism is not limited to what happens at airports, ferry terminals, hotels, restaurants and other businesses which cater mainly to tourists. It spans the gamut of experiences from the time visitors arrive on island until the time they leave. For years, the Anguilla Tourist Board has been trying to get people to embrace the concept that tourism is everybody’s business. However, it still seems to elude ordinary people that all of us are in the hospitality industry by virtue of the fact that we are hosts to the people who visit our shores. Like every good host, we must make the effort to ensure that they enjoy their stay.
Interestingly, this is where it starts to get tricky. There are some persons who are of the view that every decision made in Anguilla must ensure, first and foremost, that the tourism industry is not adversely affected. While there is much merit in this, we have to be careful that while we take their concerns into consideration, that we do not hand over control of our development to our guests. We have to decide for ourselves what we want for Anguilla, even if that means that we have to welcome a different type of guest.
To put this into context, I have read (as I am sure many of you have) — on various blogs and Facebook — of groups of visitors expressing opinions on Anguilla’s direction for development. You may have seen opposition to cruise tourism and marinas, for example. There is even concern about how many cars are on the road even though we “have nowhere to go”. There seems to be little regard by visitors, making comments of that nature, that people like you and me actually live here and need to earn sufficiently for our survival. In their view, Anguilla should remain undeveloped as this is what makes it attractive to them.
Those sentiments must be balanced with, but not overshadow, the bigger question which is, how do we make tourism work best for us? This will involve other questions such as, how much do we want to diversify our tourism product, and what type of visitor are we trying to attract? However, we must not lose sight of the fact that tourism is a means to an end — the end goal being creating more opportunities for Anguillians to make a decent living right here at home. Our choices in relation to tourism in Anguilla should therefore be based on what is best to assist us in realizing this goal.
