There has been a noticeable rise in cruise passenger arrivals in the Virgin Islands, although a few have been frowning on this achievement. Photo: VINO/File

Premier of the Virgin Islands (VI) and Minister for Finance, Dr the Honourable Natalio D. Wheatley (R7), addressing concerns raised by Opposition Members about the state of the tourism industry, dismissed it as outright ‘misinformation’ during a comprehensive and fiery rebuttal in the House of Assembly's (HoA) Budget Debate for the proposed spending by the administration for 2025. Photo: YouTube

Opposition Member Hon Myron V. Walwyn (R6), left, and former Director of Tourism Sharon P. Flax-Brutus, right, have been the fiercest critics of increased cruise tourism numbers in the Virgin Islands. Photo: Internet Source

Dr Wheatley in his presentation at the Twenty First Sitting of the First Session of the Fifth House of Assembly (HoA) on December 19, 2024, drew reference to historical data to counter the criticisms that were levelled against his administration, arguing that the current government's performance in tourism mirrors past trends while reaffirming what he described as deliberate misinformation from the Opposition.

Exposing Opposition hypocrisy

Tackling the now topical concerns raised about cruise passenger numbers—an issue he said had been unjustly politicised—the Premier was adamant, "...this Virgin Islands Party (VIP) administration is being criticised for cruise passengers and I ask myself, wasn’t the National Democratic Party (NDP) the one who extended the cruise pier so it could accommodate larger ships?"

Qualifying his argument further, the Premier revealed that the record year for cruise passengers was 2023, with over 719,000 arrivals and adding that not far behind at 699,000, …in the great 2016 that we always lauded as the greatest year of tourism ever, we had 700,000 cruise passengers essentially.”

Hon Wheatley said the numbers do not represent a significant deviation from past trends.

Further dismantling the Opposition’s narrative that the tourism mix has drastically shifted under his administration, Dr Wheatley noted that "in 2016, we had 407,000 overnight passengers compared to 700,000 cruise passengers.”

Noting “...just about 300,000 more cruise passengers than overnight guests,” he questioned rhetorically, “... how are we making it seem like we always had more overnight guests than cruise passengers and it’s gone out of balance now?"

Dr Wheatley accused the Opposition of misleading the public on this issue, saying candidly, “.... I’m suggesting to you that the public is being misled. Malcolm X said bamboozled, led astray, confused, manipulated” and are not getting the benefit of the truth from some of their elected leaders.

Day Trippers vs Overnight Visitors

The Premier also used his rebuttal to respond to concerns about the disparities with day trippers and overnight visitors, citing data showing that the recovery in these sectors is ongoing, particularly in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic.

"Our challenge right now is recovering to get to pre-pandemic levels," he explained.

To this end, he emphasised that the steady growth of overnight visitors in the years leading up to 2017 had been interrupted by external shocks, including the hurricanes of 2017 and the pandemic, reiterating 2016 as the best year for overnight visitors, with 407,000 arrivals—a culmination of consistent growth from 366,000 in 2013.

‘We should not mislead the public’

“Steadily, we’re getting more overnight visitors: 2013, more; 2014, more; 2015, more; 2016, more; And in 2017, we would have had more. What happened in 2017? We all know," he said, alluding to the devastating hurricanes that year.

Dr Wheatley has since called for honest discourse and collaborative efforts in future to advance the territory’s tourism industry, reaffirming the mantra "...we should not mislead the public."