The most notable occurrence has been the award of the highest honour of the Caribbean tourism industry, the Golden Conch Award, to Mr. Eustace Guishard, General Manager of Cap Juluca Resort. He must be commended on his outstanding achievement which he shares with the entire island. The award was made in the presence of a great throng of industry leaders, tour operators, representatives of the travel trade press and others. They all crowded the large conference rooms at the Hyatt Regency in Miami during the Caribbean Hotel Association Conference and the Taste of the Caribbean Culinary Competition. The publicity opportunities for Anguilla were immense.

The second matter of significance was Anguilla’s participation in the culinary competition and the fact that the local team, made up some of the island’s best chefs and an excellent bartender, performed with much skill and admiration.

The dish prepared by the chefs was adjudged to be the most innovative Caribbean menu and spoke of the high level of cuisine in Anguilla for which the island continues to attract rave reviews. Competing chefs from other islands and many other onlookers have had the opportunity to witness the performance of the Anguilla team at firsthand and to learn something from them. The exposure has also been of considerable worth to our team and they too can learn something from the competition that would help to bring perfection to their skills. The chefs and the bartender should also be commended for performing very well at the competition.

The third significant occurrence was the presentation of awards to a large number of hotel and restaurant workers as well as a few employees from other areas of the private sector on Tuesday this week. The employees are graduates of a training programme involving the Anguilla Tourist Board, the Anguilla Hotel and Tourism Association, the Caribbean Hotel Association and the Caribbean Regional Human Resource Development Programme for Economic Competitiveness. There was much enthusiasm among the trained employees and they stepped up with pride to receive their awards in the conference room at the office of the Tourist Board.

Anguilla has embarked on a top of the market tourism industry and has therefore put itself at a great task of maintaining a high level of service and competitiveness. Its accommodation and service facilities and those persons who are employed in the various properties must work towards the achievement of excellence in every area of the industry. Quite simply, if we aspire to quality tourism and facilities, correspondingly there must be quality personnel to carry the industry forward. On the job performance at all levels and training must be key areas to pay attention to for they are of the utmost importance to our growing tourism industry and the development of our economy.

In an island like Anguilla, where tourism is the main engine of economic growth and employment for our people, its importance cannot be over-emphasised.

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