VI Gov’t not looking for mass tourism!
He was at the time responding to a question posed by a resident who wanted to know where the plane loads of passengers would be accommodated when most of the hotels are high end.
“I want to make sure that it’s clear, our Government is concentrating on low impact, high output. We are not trying to compete with St. Maarten and St. Thomas in terms of bringing numbers into the country we are not going for quantity, we are going for quality.
So the emphasis is to get more of the high end people to come and getting them from the destinations they want to come. In terms of aircraft size and the number of passengers those are details to be worked out,” Hon. Pickering stated.
Not to be misinterpreted, the Minister made it clear that the VI welcomes tourists to soak in the idyllic atmosphere.
“Of course we want more people to come but we don’t want mass tourism, both this Government and the former Government have done a number of things such as the development of the Yacht Club and the Yacht Club Costa Smeralda (YCCS), North Sound to attract mega yachts and super yachts races… but that means people need to get in and out of the Territory with relative ease. That is the sort of tourism we are looking to the future for.”
He recalled that one resident at the East End meeting, which was held on March 27, 2012, had stated that the VI had reached its capacity in the marine industry, and enquired if more facilities will be built to facilitate the influx of tourists.
“Well maybe we have, so what we need to do is to cut back more of the smaller boats and bring more high end boats so the people who are coming and spending more money per person than numbers…so it’s a new approach to tourism. We want low impact, high output.”
A number of airlines have been in discussion with the Ministry and BVI Airport Authority and Committee on the project’s blueprints, and include Delta, Jet Blue, Air Canada and American Airlines.
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