Tourism Week 2012 opened at Paradise Cove on Saturday, December 1, with a call for all round support, for the success of the local industry, from President of the Anguilla Hotel and Tourism Association, Delroy Lake.
He observed that more than 65% of the workforce in Anguilla was directly employed in the hospitality industry and that there was much truth in the statement: “Tourism is Key to Anguilla’s Success”. He stressed that there was a need to ensure the success of Anguilla through tourism.
“Firstly, there must be an understanding by everyone in Anguilla of the importance of tourism in this small paradise,” he said. “The education awareness process must say that 100% of the Anguillian workforce is in tourism whether directly or indirectly with both being as important as the other.”
He emphasised that the island’s leaders must be proactive in their decisions relating to tourism, and pointed to the need to facilitate the arrival of tourists by ensuring that there were later-than-usual flights at the airport and travel by the ferry service at Blowing Point.He called on Customs, Immigration Officers, ferryboat operators and taxi-drivers to show respect, courtesy and friendliness to arriving tourists.
Mr. Lake said that the Tourist Board and the hotels were spending millions of dollars annually to market Anguilla. He made the point that without meaningful access to the island from Puerto Rico and Antigua that tourism would fail. He noted, with regret, that LIAT had reduced its flights to a number of Caribbean islands including Anguilla thus adding to the problem of access to the island. He stated that there was a need for more flights to Anguilla from St. Maarten and to further explore the San Juan hub where there were over 400 weekly flights from the United States and the rest of the world.
He also emphasised that there was a need to control crime in Anguilla, noting that tourists want to feel safe when travelling to a destination. “Crime in Anguilla, though small, compared with many of our neighbours, is a major problem that threatens our tourism industry and therefore our success,” he advised. “Our leaders need to look at social solutions than can help to prevent crime.”
Meanwhile, Mr. Lake looked at the importance to the development of Anguilla, and the spin-offs that would benefit the people of the island, in terms of employment, earnings and business ownership. He also emphasised the need for Anguillians to occupy management positions in the industry.
“I am calling for proper understudy programmes, because only with our locals being able to attain these positions will be able to say we have had success in tourism,” he added. “As our founding father, Mr. Ronald Webster, once said, ‘we must not be a nation of waiters and busboys’”.
A short address was delivered by Parliamentary Secretary, Tourism, Haydn Hughes. “I believe that tourism employs 100% of the people of Anguilla,” he said in part.“There is no industry more important to us. Yet, I sometimes wonder if we, as a people, truly give it our proper respect and care whether it is the way we dispose litter, or the way we greet our guests and visiting tourists; the way we dress and the way we conduct business; the way we treat our beaches and natural assets; or the way we interact on social media.
“These questions each of us has to ask ourselves and figure out ways in which we can do better because I truly believe we can. We have the natural ingredients to do so.”
Mr. Hughes ended his brief address by telling the gathering: “At this week’s gala, I expect to announce some new product developments that my team and I have been working on over the past eleven months. I am hopeful that not only the industry partners will support these initiatives, but the island as a whole.”
The opening ceremony for Tourism Week was chaired by Director of Tourism, Candis Niles, who welcomed the small number of persons present and outlined the various activities. Two of the activities are the Anguilla Tourism Gala and Awards Presentation at Viceroy on Friday, December 7; and The Valley Street Festival & Taste of the Islands on Saturday, December 8.
