Found at: http://www.anguillaguide.com/article/articleprint/5481/-1/140/
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BANKS REPORTS ON OECS TOURISM MINISTERS' MEETING Anguilla Concerned About Spiralling Airfares
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Anguilla’s Minister of Tourism, Victor Banks, said the recent 6th Annual Ministers of Tourism Conference in Montserrat focussed on a number of important issues regarding the development of the industry throughout the Eastern Caribbean.
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Hon. Victor Banks
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The main two issues were how the islands would benefit more from the linkage industries with tourism, in particular agro-tourism, and the fact that there was a need for Caribbean territories to get more from the tourist dollars they are spending.
“It was estimated that we were exporting, in some cases, up to 80% of the tourist dollars for the purchase of goods and services for tourism and that the time had come for us to ensure that the linkage industries – agriculture, crafts and so forth - become a part of the industry,” he stated. “This would in a way encourage the people not only to participate as producers but also as businesses providing the services that the tourist industry needs.”
Mr. Banks said the Ministers looked at researching what niche markets the Eastern Caribbean States could pursue within the overall one Caribbean brand. “This is a very important undertaking because the Caribbean Tourism Organisation is leading the charge on the importance of branding the Caribbean as a single destination but, at the same time, creating an opportunity for member states of the OECS to have niche markets where they can develop centres of excellence for the provision of tourism services,” Banks stated.
“We spoke about doing something about the high cost of airfares in the region,” he reported. “Airfares have in some cases increased from 30 to 120 percent within the region. The comment was made that it is in fact cheaper to go from an island in the Caribbean to a main city in the United States than it is to travel from one island to another. These are issues which impact our tourism industry and which…the Council of Tourism Ministers will be pursuing to ensure that we get the best out of our tourism industry.”
Mr. Banks was asked to relate all of this to Anguilla. “In the Anguilla context we are all affected by these issues,” he replied. “We are concerned about the airlift into Anguilla and the cost of that service. As a tourist destination we don’t only need to market North America and Europe, but we also need to [concentrate] on intra-Caribbean tourism.
“With regards to agro-tourism, there are opportunities for farmers who are now growing a lot of crops which can be used in the tourism industry. There is an opportunity to develop methodologies which could assist them in their marketing, developing the products they produce, the presentation, level and quality of their products. It also allows us in our region to make a determination of what kind of products Anguilla will sell.
“Of course we are featuring the luxury brand of tourism but everybody is pursuing that now, which they should, because it is indeed an important part of our product in the Caribbean. We have been successful in this, leaving other countries to follow. It behoves us now to do better, improve the product that we have, redefine and refresh ourselves.”
Mr. Banks added: “We took an early lead in luxury tourism and of course we had competitors, but we have done extremely well and our success has caused a number of people to look at what we are doing. Right now St. Kitts, Antigua, St. Lucia and others are looking at the luxury market.”
Mr. Banks was speaking to The Anguillian as he prepared to deliver an address at the opening ceremony of Tourism Week.