‘The [airport] runway expansion will happen’- Premier Wheatley
Premier Wheatley again gave a reminder of the intention to extend the runway when he gave remarks at the Development Agreement Signing with JOMA (Properties) Ltd on March 25, 2024.
The agreement signed is for the development of a new 65-room boutique hotel complete with a restaurant, bar, retail shop, fitness centre and more. Dr Wheatley had said the agreement also includes an upgrade of the marina facilities in the Port Purcell area.
The Premier said hotels and marinas contribute to attracting visitors to the VI and ensuring they have an enjoyable and quality experience – so that they will return and they will tell their friends about the “wonderful tourism offerings” in the VI.
'Runway extension will happen'
“May I point out as well that where my Government has committed to the expansion of the runway at the Terrance B. Lettsome International Airport on Beef Island, one of the areas that we will have to focus on as a Territory is that of increasing the number of rooms on all our islands and on the water.
“The runway expansion will happen, and it will increase the demand for accommodation.”
According to Dr Wheatley the aim is to build on the tourism product; however, that would be impossible without the extension of the runway and “extending that runway to allow direct flights from the Eastern Seaboard of the United States and places like New York, North Carolina, Atlanta...is going to have a transformative impact on our tourism product,” he said.
The Premier said there are many investors from all over the world knocking on the VI’s doors and saying they believe in the "BVI" brand. “The numbers will continue to grow in tourism and we have to make sure that we are well positioned to benefit from that growth,” he added.
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17 Responses to “‘The [airport] runway expansion will happen’- Premier Wheatley”
You are going to DESTROY your island
How many millions are we looking at anyways? Just make the place better & safer and people will come. With all the violence world wide people will come all they want is safety & food.
- roads are in a deplorable condition
- education is pathetic
- healthcare terrible
- corruption and crime rampant
Why does this baboon think his govt can manage a runway extension.
For sure he is going to appoint his friends and family as contractors and advisors. You know, his voters. All 300 of them will get a contract.
Selfishness is as dangerous than as prideful ness.
BVI tourism is going to cr*p, looking like a third world country. “Little Manila” it starting to look like, with all the Filipinos coming in on permit. Guns, drug shipments,Spanish girls,cheap labor,no lights, little water,potholes, idiots raising kids, bigger idiots running country. A dream world. Let’s destroy more of the country building an airport that no one will be able to afford to fly into. Get the Chinese to finance and build it. They can rape crown land when they seize it for non payment on the loan for the shoddy work they did on the airport. It’s coming. Slowande going to sink this rock.
More people = more essential needs like ROADS, like Sewage systems, like hotels and other facilities.
Why are those people coming? Do we even understand? Does ANYONE in authority understand that the majority of our visitors come here because they LOVE the beautiful environment of these Virgin Islands.
That's it. Full stop. Sure they might enjoy rum drinks and a few of them like a Disney kind of activity like zip line and other stupidness they can find anywhere in the world. But ALMOST ALL come for the beauty and the environment.
And look at us. We don't care about it at all!!
We have dead and dying reefs. We have landfill anywhere a money man wants to fill, killing the reefs and the mangrove and the coral where the fishes live. We want to expand the runway, which means we have to kill more of the nature - the sewage, the roads the hotels will all damage the nature.
And we don't care! We are stupid enough to ONLY WANT MONEY NOW!
And who will get the money anyway? Big dollar local contractors who ALREADY HAVE A LOT OF MONEY. And who will get the jobs? Jamaican, Vincy, Philippino.
Spend the money on educating our people. Spend the money on protecting the NATURE that those tourists come for. You don't need another product to sell them. Sell them pristine nature and they will come.
And if the numbers don't keep going up forever and ever? SO WHAT? We need our Virgin Islands to be resilient against economic shocks. If the BRICS pushes the Dollar down, all of them will stop coming anyway!
And if we have fish and land we and our children and their children will be just fine.
Zombie mentality of 'we must grow and we must build' CANNOT LAST. Think long term for the health and vitality of our people, now and in the future.