Over the past several weeks, we have received a wealth of information about Anguilla’s reopening plan. Many meetings have been held with various stakeholder groups in the hospitality and health sectors to iron out any issues, and answer questions in relation to the reopening. Our Government must be commended for putting a lot of effort into ensuring that Anguilla can reopen safely. The Honourable Hadyn Hughes, Minister of Tourism; and the Honourable Quincia Gumbs-Marie, Parliamentary Secretary, seem to be at the forefront of the initiative — and we thank them for their efforts.
In preparing for the reopening, Government’s priorities appear to be two-fold. Firstly, it wants to ensure that our population remains safe and is not exposed to undue health risks. There are many members of the public, especially senior citizens, who are concerned about the possibility of Covid-19 reaching our shores again. They are fearful that the virus may spread throughout the community and cause severe health
challenges for many persons. People are worried about whether or not our health system, even with all the upgrades, can manage an outbreak of the virus. Others are concerned about our ability to adopt the necessary precautionary measures — such as social distancing, frequent hand washing or mask wearing — when we have not been practising such measures in any consistent way for the past six months due to our Covid-free status. Workers in the hospitality sector have many questions about the protection of their health when they are serving and interacting with guests. While they want to earn a living, they also want to be assured that they can do so safely and not expose themselves and their families to the virus. I believe many of the fears are the result of lack of knowledge, and I encourage all persons to avail themselves of the information Government has been sharing in stakeholder meetings — via radio, newspaper, social media etc.
Secondly, Government wants to increase economic activity and provide opportunities for employment. A large percentage of the population has been unemployed for over eight months. Unemployment assistance has been provided since April 2020, but the amount is insufficient to sustain some families. Additionally, the assistance is scheduled to end in December, the hope being that the tourism season for 2020 – 2021 could be salvaged. With high unemployment, and its commitment to providing unemployment assistance, Government is dealing with a double blow. Tax revenues have no doubt taken a nose dive as more people are unable or unwilling to pay taxes from their reduced income. This means Government has less to spend. However, Government must still fund unemployment and other social assistance programmes. Government is likely using funds from the UK Government to keep afloat, but we already know that there are no free rides and the British Government is likely to be putting significant pressure on our Government to meet certain conditions.
It is in Government’s best interest for people to return to work. Additionally, our people want to work. We are a proud and industrious people and I have heard many people say they are eager to be able to work and take home a pay cheque that can meet their needs.
With the borders set to reopen on 1st November 2020, the question for all of us is, will visitors come? Will their numbers be sufficient for hotels to consider reopening for the season? Unfortunately, with the best intentions in the world, the best marketing or promotion strategy, the best safety protocols, we have no guarantees that the Government’s efforts will pay off. This is no ordinary situation. We are dealing with the intricacies of operating a tourism industry during a global pandemic. We have no control over many of the variables affecting our visitor prospects. I am sure that many of the factors affecting prospective visitors are related to the Covid-19 situation in the countries where they reside, their confidence in their ability to travel without contracting the virus, and the health protocols in their countries.
Whether we have a productive tourism season or not seems to be a matter of “wait and see”. In the interim, we must look ahead with the expectation that things will get better. We are Anguillian
