‘We’re on a good track as it pertains to our tourism visitors’- Premier Wheatley
Totalling 682,773 visitors as opposed to 582,674 in 2023 at a 17.2% increase, the Premier speaking during a sitting of the House of Assembly on July 4, 2024, said. "The economy is the worst it has ever been, according to what I’m hearing from the other side. Madam Speaker, how does that square with facts?”
“We’re on a good track as it pertains to our tourism visitor… And I believe that there was some acknowledgement that there were some people who were benefiting [at the Pier Park].
“And [when] a cruise ship [is] there I see people buying things from the stores and the vendors. I see people on Long Bay, Beef Island, they are making some money from tourism. It's not just Cane Garden Bay, money is being spread around.”
The Premier said events outside of Music Festival, Spring Regattas, BVI Wreck Week and the sporting tournaments all contribute to tourism numbers and more like car rentals, hotel and accommodations and provisioning of yachts.
Financial services sector also improving - Premier
“If you’re objective and you're fair, you will accept these facts, but if you're just trying to prove a point for your own benefit, you'll reject these facts.”
Dr Wheatley added that financial services is also doing well. "We're holding the strain…But we've been able to hold the strain and financial services…We're doing very well,” he added.
He said in terms of other sectors in the VI, the country is making more revenues than it has ever made in financial services.
“So when we say that we are not doing well, I don’t want to discount the fact that we have problems in our economy… and I can identify where the problems are in our economy, these are challenges that have existed over time.”
Premier Wheatley said some of these problems include accessing of money by some in the economy and that some persons in the Virgin Islands don’t want to employ Virgin Islanders," which he acknowledged the government would have to put systems in place to address.
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17 Responses to “‘We’re on a good track as it pertains to our tourism visitors’- Premier Wheatley”
Your credibility has been flushed down the septic tnk along with the BVI .
ThankYou for your failed service.
Goodbye yes!
Better off tourists don't want to be around budget travelers. That's not just in the BVI, it's everywhere. Either you're an upscale destination or you're mass market.
Some higher end cruise lines come to the BVI, Seaborn and Silversea, for example. The big ships that come into Road Town, MSC and Disney for example, are low-end cruise lines. A quick check of the Internet will show you their rates.
People don't want to spend $20k/week renting a villa or chartering a boat to be around the hoi polloi. The charter guests are out on the water; the real impact has been in villa rentals. Those folks won't be caught dead on Cane Garden Bay beach or Long Bay Beef when the cruise ships are in. It represents everything they want to get away from.
And what do you think will happen to the beautiful Virgin Islands with all of these thousands of people here?
It will become the next Costa Brava. The real money spenders won’t want to come here anymore. Too busy, you have to queue to get through at the Baths.
The numbers should be balanced to take into consideration of impact to the environment.
Airport expansion, Nanny Cay expansion, why isn’t there a limit on number of charter yacht’s allowed in the BVI?
Buy, eat/drink/smoke spend, relax, back on the ship.
If 6 visitors means we are on track, 24 what would we call that?