'Economy will sink & Territory will suffer' if tourism not revived - Julio S. Henry
"In recognising the approach of our USVI neighbours, who are moving forward to allow hotels and villa rentals to begin accepting outside reservations, says to me that we in the BVI should continue to practice measures of safety and social distancing while moving in a direction that prepares us to reopen for tourism and position ourselves to accommodate visitors to our shores," he said.
VI must get back in Business - Mr Henry
Mr Henry was at the time speaking in an opinion piece forwarded to various media houses in the VI, today, May 7, 2020.
He noted that a large number of our visitors opt to travel through the US Virgin Islands (USVI) on their way to the VI, hence, the VI now has a mandate to formulate plans to facilitate the interests of travellers who will be seeking to visit the Territory when the borders reopen.
'Yes, we must remain vigilant in how we open our borders and consider best practices for screening visitors. Yes, persons are fearful on both sides of the coin but our economy will sink and our Territory will suffer greatly if we do not get back to business for our tourism and hospitality industry.
He said a planned approach would be in conjunction with USVI authorities, such as the port authority, ferry companies and a team of local persons on the ground screening and qualifying persons before leaving the USVI shores, will build consumers confidence and allow VI tourism and hospitality doors to open.
"The second line of defence is to continue the screening process as we were conducting before our borders were closed. Thirdly, we must continue the best practices that we are currently performing in order to operate our internal economy," he said.
No malice & negativity - Mr Henry
Mr Henry was also quick to warn that his plan is only a starting point to rethink, reorganise and reopen our economy and urged against misrepresenting his words for 'malice or negative reasons'.
"Why open you say, and when is the right time? I say for the obvious reasons highlighted above and as early as possible."
He said the VI Government, the Chamber of Commerce, and the BVI Tourist Board should by now have a tourism recovery plan in place and should have started the process of leading and implementing communications and outreach with small villas, hotels, charter boat rentals and others to prepare for the return of tourists.
.png)
.png)
.png)
Follow Us On
55 Responses to “'Economy will sink & Territory will suffer' if tourism not revived - Julio S. Henry”
He not seeing what going on.
Send home them i*****8 p**** and we good
The negative impact of cruise ship tourism will be immediate and will be sustained for an indefinite period as m. More people are going to be apprehensive about boarding "floating Petri dishes" that undoubtedly contributed to the spread of the disease.
So while I agree we should work towards opening accommodations for tourists, it must be done prudently to avoid more financial hardship. Recently, restaurants in the US we eager to begin operating, but when they did, the patrons never came. Therefore, they ended up in a worse financial position than they were when places were shut down.
I think the BVI must begin the process of brainstorming new economic ventures and begin the process of slowly abdicating from its dependence on tourist $$. The future is too uncertain for us to continue to bet on tourism.
- obesity
- high blood pressure
- asthma
- cancer
No life no money
As such, any policy modifications must seek to protect the vulnerable, while allowing those not at significant risk to return to their normal activities. The key is to identify the most prudent and responsible balance between saving lives, and living life.
The territory, like the rest of the region, is a travel dependent locale. Tourism is 1/2 of the BVI economic pillars. And further, when advanced countries are in recession and unemployment is hig, people has less discretionary income and travel less in normal times but with the pandemic they will travel even less. The airline industry is anticipating this and is cutting the number seats; cruise lines may be doing likewise. The BVI is in for some rough seas and residents should brace themselves for some painful and hard times. Covid-19, if there were any doubts before, exposed the weakness of not having a diversified economy. Let’s be safe and fasten out seat belts for some unsettling turbulence ahead.
The tourism industry even with the best government effort will take some time to rebound even to 2019 levels. It is more likely to get a little more robust in 2021. That is the reality and projection of travel experts. We hope they are wrong.
We are too intelligent of a people to engage in unproductive conversations.
The season is gone be over just now, so just wait it out till oct nov .
for next season this virus is a serious ting, and we are very small. rite now the tourist will not be treated friendly cause everyone gone think they have the virus ,so please lets not rush this OCTOBER THE EARLIEST
I saw this all in a dream several years ago. Jesus talked to me about it all. He has things under control, before it all plays out. This will start the beginning of the One World Order. He will protect His people...I encouraged you to remove the fear within you, and form a relationship with Jesus Christ! These times will pass, we should all get our house in order.
That quote make you sound like captain obvious from the Hotel.com commercials
Since this is not a matter of law, but personal opinion,I will not criticize a person for their person views..
But one would expect this host to be watching TV, of whats happening around the world,where Governments are looking to the IMF, and mother countries,for financial bail outs to assist unemployed workers.
The host is telling the Governor and the Premier. to forget about public health, and open for IMPORTERS OF CORONA VIRUS TO IMPORT COVID-19 INTO THE BVI? lol
For real?
To know we the citizens made such huge sacrifices just to open up for the sake of money is sick u hear me sick.
Sorry but should that happen I hope ppl like that be the first to contract it.
Vacation Is far from anyone’s mind
At the moment...
Need to hear from the VI Government on the matter.
Taxis retool yourselves for the time being. Maybe construction.
Moreover, tourism is 1/2 of VI economic twin pillars; financial services the other. And though financial services generates more government revenue (~60%), tourism provides more direct, indirect and induced employment, ie, taxi drivers, tour operators, souvenir vendors, hotel workers, marina workers, pier park businesses and workers..........etc. Understand Sam’s desire to get tourism back on track. However, to avoid a setback and more hated and taxing lockdowns, government must effectively engineer a fast but safe reopening. IMO it is a false choice that the economy should take priority over health. Health first. The economy will come back from bust to boom though it will take time but a death is gone for ever. Further, all eyes need to be on what is happening with the US economy, the #1 economy.
The US economy is leaking like a sieve and hemorrhaging jobs. It lost approx 21, 000, 000 jobs in April and the unemployment rate jump to 14.7%: This rate appears to be second only to the 24.9% Great Depression rate. By comparison, the Great Recession of 2008-2009 lost approx 8, 600, 000 jobs; approx 22,000,000 regain after the depression in 11 years. However, the Covid-19 recession has already wiped out the post Great Recession gain. Why should the VI be laser-focused on the the US economy?
Most of the tourists, ie, cruise and over nite, come from the US. And with US economy tanking and unemployment skyrocketing, fewer US residents will be traveling. This will affect employment, government revenue, service delivery......etc. in the VI. Like the rest of the region, the VI will be facing some challenges ahead. Though residents will be leaning hard on government, government only has the resources IMO to provide help for a short time. In fact, if the crisis extends out further, government may be force to cut services, employment.....etc.