Dr. the Hon. Rufus W. Ewing, Premier and Minister of Tourism, Culture and Heritage, left the Country this past weekend to join other Tourism Ministers and Leaders from the Caribbean Region in attending the Caribbean Tourism Organization (CTO) State of the Industry Conference 2014 in St. Thomas of the United States Virgin Islands (USVI).
The week-long event, held annually, is the industry’s biggest event of the year where tourism specialists and academics, Ministers and policy makers, come together with the key stakeholders, tourism professionals and strategic planners from both the public and private sectors to discuss issues and identify solutions as a part of their mapping of the road way for the sustainable growth of the tourism industry for the future.
This much anticipated event, held under the theme: Realizing the Vision: Positioning Caribbean Tourism for Major Change, is expected to attract some 350 participants, and will feature speakers of international and regional acclaim on a wide range of topics, best practices and formidable strategies that will be critical to growth of Caribbean economies. Among those topics to be discussed this year is the Diversification of the Tourism Product to Secure Year-Round Business and Private-Public Partnerships and its Implications, two key components that Premier Ewing has long promoted in his Tourism and Strategic National Agenda for the Turks and Caicos Islands.
Premier Ewing commented, “Tourism in the Turks and Caicos Islands has continued to be the bread-basket of our economy and has taken our brand as a high end luxury destination to the farthest reaches of the world, and this is excellent, especially for the main economic center of Providenciales. However, our beautiful by nature Turks and Caicos Islands have many different sites and sounds and smells and tastes and it is past time that we diversify our product to ensure that our visitors also get to experience the unique flavours of our other islands. Achieving this would give the small businesses of those islands the regeneration of income, create jobs and community sustainability.”
The Premier also noted that with the development of tourism and jobs in the family islands, there will be a need for the development of major infrastructure, particularly in the linkage of the Caicos Islands and other critical facilities.
“The Government is also in discussions with many potential investors, who are keen to form Public-Private Partnerships with the Government in facilitating the development of the Caicos Islands Causeway that will link Providenciales all the way down to South Caicos. Not only will this give tourists easy access to the family islands, but is will also allow those persons with homes in the family islands to commute to Providenciales for work and recreational purposes, thereby lessening the over-crowding that we are experiencing today.”
The Premier also noted that already, resorts on Providenciales are experiencing year-round bookings as opposed to the more seasonal pattern for which the Caribbean was previously known.
“In discussions this week, it is my aim to garner the key elements for inclusion in policy formation and the National Tourism Strategy that will support and encourage this emerging trend. While we may not have been the triggers necessarily, we must ensure that we do our best to encourage, maintain and sustain this new strand of tourists, which in time will promote and sustain the growth of our small businesses and tourism industry year-round.”
The Premier, who is accompanied by Mr. Ronlee James, the Head of Secretariat to the Office of the Premier, will also be joined in the USVI by the Chairman of the Turks and Caicos Islands Tourist Board, Dr. Kingsley Been for the Conference.
Premier Ewing is expected to return over the coming weekend, and during his absence, the Deputy Premier and Minister of Education, Youth, Sports and Library Services, Hon. Akierra M. D. Missick, has charge for Country Leader’s portfolio.
