'We've come a very long way’ post Hurricane Irma- Sharon P. Flax-Brutus
Speaking on Beyond the Horizon’s third episode today, Tuesday, February 3, 2026, she said, “Post [Hurricane] Irma, I do have to tell you we’ve come a very long way. Some persons felt that a lot of our product was destroyed, so we should just kind of pack it in for a little bit. The beauty of the BVI is we have sixty islands, islets, rocks and keys; not all of those sixty islands were destroyed, so it was let’s look at the ones we can get the product up.”
She said this is one of the reasons Anegada is where it is today.
The future of tourism in the VI
Describing herself as a Tourism Experience Curator, Flax-Brutus also opined on the direction tourism in the VI is taking and should be taking.
“We’re fast becoming known as a villa destination and a villa destination that provides luxurious and varied products that is on par with anything you can find on St Barths.”
Adventure Tourism, she added, should be explored more, in addition to Event Tourism, which would appeal to the demographic the VI is looking to attract.
“Those are things that people, the demographic that we are looking for, would travel for something like that.”
Exploring new areas in the tourism space is nothing new for the VI. Flax-Brutus explained that when Culinary Tourism was first getting underway here, the VI was not known in that space.
“If you look at it now, you can even have an Omakase Japanese dining experience here on Virgin Gorda; we have celebrity chefs of our own…those are some of the areas that I see us going to in the future that make for developing tourism.”
VI is uniquely positioned
Flax-Brutus said the VI is also geographically uniquely positioned.
“We’re not too hard to get to. We have the infrastructure in place with the telecommunications. We’re increasing our accessibility in terms of air and even sea access.”
These, she explained, are some of the factors investors consider when seeking to invest in the VI’s tourism fabric.
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27 Responses to “'We've come a very long way’ post Hurricane Irma- Sharon P. Flax-Brutus”
You talk so much until you talk sh**. The BVI might have keys but get held with them and you will be going away for a long time. The BVI is made up of ISLETS AND CAYS! You guys are so negative you don't take time to properly understand or articulate anything. Back to the topic, this lady is a complete hypocrite and talks out of every corner of her mouth on these topics. She is still bitter that she no longer has the BVITB purse and perks and will continue to do/say anything to pull down this government. The thought process is that any other government/party will give her a chance to grandstand while providing nothing of substance. Anyone with half a brain, real business experience with economics and tourism, realize that the BVI is laid out in such a way that once properly managed we can offer our product to luxury, leisure, entertainment, culinary focused visitors.
The BVI should go in the direction that I make my money and &^%$ everyone else. Cute! How do you become a leader in tourism? What has she led? Please enlighten me.
What “record year” is being referenced?
The “record” commonly associated with her BVITB tenure is 2016, when total visitors exceeded 1.1 million.
Official category totals for 2016 (Central Statistics Office table):
• Total visitors (2016): 1,124,380
• Cruise arrivals (2016): 699,105
• Overnight arrivals (2016): 407,764
• Day trippers (2016): 17,511
Using the official 2016 table:
• Cruise arrivals (699,105) comprise ~62% of total arrivals (1,124,380).
The record year most associated with her tenure was not driven primarily by overnight or villa growth; it was majority cruise-led.
The claim “still unbroken” is false
The most recent published record shows 2016 has already been surpassed.
BVI Beacon reporting on 2025 arrivals:
• Total visitors in 2025: 1,202,008 (up ~7% from the previous record set in 2016)
• Growth was “driven by” a 13.9% jump in cruise passengers
• Cruise arrivals in 2025: 875,127 (nearly 73% of total)
The “still unbroken” claim does not survive even basic verification against published record-year reporting.
You didn't have to burst their bubble like this! These people are emotional creatures, they hate data, they hate facts they hate the reality on the ground. They want to continue to pull the wool over people's eyes by calling themselves experts when they have never owned or ran anything of significance. The BVI is able to accommodate all types of travelers, we just need proper planning in place along with improved infrastructure. The selfishness is what's killing the BVI at this stage where persons want the focus to be on where they get their bread and ^%$# everyone else.
They have their product offerings, and we have ours!
What I would like to see us do, is develop ours, to the best of our ability!
Let's focus on our traditional cuisines, our local products, and expand on those!
Let's take care of the facades- bush trimming, sewerage, proper lighting, signage, and so forth!
I think Mrs. Brutus, on to something here!
Let's expand on this!