Gov't pushing for 5 Star Resorts @ Prospect Reef & Beef Island- Hon Christian
“It means that the Premier has given me the responsibility to report to him on matters related to tourism, which covers the hotel industry, the sailing industry, the diving industry, the cruise ship industry and a whole host of other affiliated spin offs. I work closely with the BVI Tourist Board so that they could execute the mandate of the tourism industry. So they report to me and I report directly to the Premier,” he said during an exclusive interview with Virgin Islands News Online.
Honourable Christian said that since being appointed to the post of Junior Minister with responsibility for Tourism he has attended one of the board meetings of the Tourist Board...they have regular meetings and there is one scheduled for next week where a number of issues pertaining to the industry will be discussed.
Priorities for the tourism sector
Honourable Christian said when he was inducted into the post by Premier Smith, the Premier wanted him to focus on two main areas - training and standards.
He said the industry is a very competitive one and hence the need for both training and standards to be enhanced.
“The tourists that come to our shores these days are looking for good service. The destination is prided with being a very hospitable and friendly destination but service is something Premier Smith wants us to focus on across the industry...service by the hotels, service by the marinas, service by the diver operators, service by the immigration officers, service by the customs officers, service by the Police officer, the taxi drivers and the service ambassadors...basically all of the frontline people.”
NDP Gov't still pushing Prospect Reef development
Hon Christian noted that under his watch, there will be programmes that will from time to time address training as it relates to service. When it comes to standards he said they are trying to ensure that they attract some new five star resorts to the VI. “Two properties that we are pushing for five star development would be Prospect Reef and Beef Island,” he said.
It was in November 2014 that Premier Smith, who was upbeat about United Kingdom company McAlpine’s touted $100ml assured investment for the Prospect Reef Development Project, announced that the project was put on hold as McAlpine was no longer interested.
“At the moment the Prospect Reef Development Plan is on hold,” he said at a press conference on November 25, 2014 as he reminded reporters that his NDP government had gone through a process where “we had selected a company to continue the development but the company has not taken up that offer at the moment they are still waiting and to determine when to move forward.”
According to Premier Smith, the proposal for the development of Prospect Reef was on the table during the NDP’s time in office from 2003 – 2007.
He had further said McAlpine was hoping to develop the project over a three-year period to include villas, hotel suites, recreational and conference facilities, branded condominiums, office spaces and restaurants, among other things.
Noting that Premier Smith has overall responsibility for tourism, he said the Premier will deal with policies and ensuring that we negotiate with the right persons to come in and invest, attracting other business opportunities in tourism. “I will support him in those endeavours and in some instances he may ask me to go off to a conference to ensure that we can gather information and then I would come back and report to him.”
He said one of those conferences was the Organisation of Eastern Caribbean (OECS) Ministers of Tourism Conference in Antigua for two days and he went and represented the Premier. “At that conference we discussed a whole host of issues,” he said.
Turning his attention to the need to build capacity at the Tourist Board, Hon Christian said the staff at the Tourist Board is always exposed to training and he said sometimes this involves taking staff to activities overseas such as trade shows.
Challenges to the sector
Honourable Christian said some of the challenges to the sector would be the closure of Biras Creek Resort, Rosewood Little Dix Bay Resort and more recently Yacht Club Costa Smeralda (YCCS) and making sure that the employees were looked after in terms of their labour commitments and immigration formalities.
Another challenge that he cited is the increase in cruise passengers, in that the focus is now on making sure those passengers are dispersed within the territory evenly and not all of them concentrating on one destination, for example Cane Garden Bay.
“You have heard us speaking about finding other places for the tourists to be able to disperse...trying to redevelop some of the historical sites...you would have heard about my comment regarding utilising H. Lavity Stoutt’s burial ground as one of those locations where tourists could be.”
The Territorial At Large Representative said Deputy Premier and Minister for Natural Resources and Labour Dr The Honourable Kedrick D. Pickering is working on the revitalisation of Brandywine Bay Beach as an alternative for the tourists to go.
“We are trying to make some improvements to Road Town so that it is more pedestrian friendly and, in addition to the lovely completed cruise ship dock, they can still be able to walk through Road Town...we are trying to complete the Queen Elizabeth II Park as people like green areas and places to relax and enjoy. We are trying to complete these projects by the next tourist season,” he said.
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32 Responses to “Gov't pushing for 5 Star Resorts @ Prospect Reef & Beef Island- Hon Christian”
and in between flights it sits empty. It is a waste. As for demonstrations, everyone is related to everyone else and will retaliate if they don't like one's political positions. Rule by fear and code of silence. true.
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Man I thought they done see sense a while ago when they lose them court cases over and over.
And all these hotels closing in the BVI so the Premier wants to open two more?
Seriously, policy here is nothing to do with good sense. Just policy-makers' dollars and cents.