Musical festivals a well known & effective strategy to increase visitors - Premier
“The vision that we have put forward for tourism is very clear. If people don't understand it, it means they don't want to understand it. We want to increase the amount of tourists that we have in the Virgin Islands,” he said.
The Premier was at the time speaking during a Friday, March 22, 2024, press conference on the upcoming Virgin Islands (VI) music festival and added, that the government also wants to increase the quality of the experience that visitors have when they come to the VI.
“Last year we had our second-best arrival numbers in the history of the Virgin Islands. Those persons who tell you that the economy is not doing well, are they simply ignoring the facts?... we have 994,253 visitors,” he said.
VI can do better - Premier Wheatley
According to the Premier, the almost 950K visitors was an astounding accomplishment considering that the VI still has properties to come on stream, regarding recovering from the Hurricanes of 2017.
“But we can do better and we will do better” he said while sharing stats from 2023 and adding that for months with low visitor arrivals like May, more activities should be planned so arrival numbers can increase through tourism diversification.
“Our focus today is on entertainment Tourism which is a key strategy used all over the world,” he said in reference to regional countries and their festivals and carnival-like activities held in the UK, Canada and US.
“It is a well-known and effective strategy to improve your visiting numbers and the quality of the experience of existing visitors,” Dr Wheatley said while noting the VI will be doing more to bolster its tourism numbers.
11 Responses to “Musical festivals a well known & effective strategy to increase visitors - Premier”
If you can clearly show an audited report with the financial performance within 3 months after the festival.
Let’s talk then.
But as we all know, the govt doesn’t care to have the books checked.
Moreover, the VI must attract both overnite( long -stay) and day trip visitors. Over night visitors need beds to put heads in, ie, adequate room supply to facilitate demand. On average, overnighters spend more per day than day trippers.
Exactly, can this i*** give an estimate of how much the Govt. pay out & compare to how much they gain from this. Take some of this money & give “ sister islands” some of the essentials that they need for everyday living. Set of CLOWNS we got in Govt.????????♂️