BVITB to hire crisis management consultant to safely reboot tourism
Visitors aboard a cruise ship docked in the BVI recently. (BVI News photo)
The BVI Tourist Board (BVITB) will be hiring a consultant who specializes in crisis management to reboot the tourism industry amid the Coronavirus Disease (COVID-19) pandemic.
In a statement copied within its recent job notice for a consultant, the BVITB said the pandemic is ‘severely’ impacting the industry globally, so the Board’s goal is to now navigate through the ‘new regular’ by providing “an exceptional tourism experience” while, at the same time, ensuring “heightened attention” to the health and wellbeing of visitors and locals.
The consultant would have to lead a COVID-19 Tourism Recovery Taskforce that is also being created to help bring a ‘realistic view’ of the sector.
Market survey for state of readiness
The consultant will be required to analyze the present state of readiness of the territory and other Caribbean islands and carry out a market survey to understand the territory’s intent and needs for travel in the short and long term.
The BVITB further said the consultant would be required to assess and anticipate travellers’ likely future needs given the health and safety concerns arising due to COVID-19. The consultant must further analyze the implications of travellers’ emerging needs for developing, managing and promoting the BVI as a “top of mind” tourism destination for the high-end traveller.
“[He/She must] develop scenarios for multiple versions of the future, establish the strategic posture for the sector as well as a broad direction of the journey back to growth, establish actions and strategic imperatives that will be reflected across various scenarios,” the Tourist Board explained.
Public-private partnership
They would also be required to “establish trigger points to tackle action, which includes a planned vision in a low touch economy, provide organizational support in managing the reopening process and conduct public-private sector collaboration consisting of key stakeholders from the tourism sector (general tourism and cruise tourism), the Ministry of Tourism and agencies of the ministry.”
The successful party must be able to develop COVID-19 protocols consistent with those from the Ministry of Health that would focus on reducing future risk of infection and provide a higher level of safety for both locals and visitors alike.
Contract for up to two years
The contract will be for three to six months in the first instance. But according to the BVITB, it could be extended for up to two years.
The consultancy is slated to commence on June 1, while the first phase of the border reopening to facilitate locals and permanent residents to return home will begin on June 2.
To be considered for the job, individuals must have no less than five years of experience in the tourism sector with strong data analysis and marketing skills.
Closing date for all application is May 27.
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One would have thought as a matter of first priority the Tourist Board should meet with the stake holders here in the BVI and get their input. Especially the islands of VG, Anegada, and JVD that are almost solely dependent on Tourism for their survival.
But, somehow I doubt it – operating in a vacuum is how Government does business and the Tourist Board is about the worst of the divisions when it comes to this. All image, and no substance!
The negro always gots to hire the consultants. This Territory has hired more consultants per capita then any area on the planet. The biggest laugh is that they then disregard the advice of the consultant. Perhaps you should teach yourselves how to read and write and then you could simply follow what other Caribbean islands are doing.
When does Claude Overspend Skelton Cline’s contract come up for renewal – he has had two x 6 month contracts at $16,666.66 per month which have been very successful for him. He ought to be able to take on this one as well. The management style at the pier park could fairly be described as crisis management – so he has experience.
We don’t want to be bringing in any non-local person – our people can do things as well here as foreigners can.
What racist dribble is this? You sound like a bitter reject.
Yes, Yes and Yes. The one person they had that knows how to speak, promote and articulate herself on the Global platform they let go. Consultant to make everything look good on the surface? Micromanaging the Consultant? Not taking the advise of the Consultant? I agree, they need to work on how to properly read, write and and pronounce words in the proper form. TORTOLA, not TARTOLA.
ALOT ROT!
ALOT ROT! why does a consultant need marketing experience? You’ll see who gets hired soon. It’s already been decided. It’s rotten politics again
By the time this consultant files his report and sucks as much as he can and shares with F and his henchmen, the rest of the Caribbean will have been open for business for months recovering from the pandemic. Everyone knows the issue with tourism in the Territory. Racist, nasty and ignorant island people who hate visitors, taxing the visitor beyond reasonable limits, taxis charging ridiculous fees, few tourist destinations, airport runway too short and more and more. Just open the borders. The tourists will do the rest.
Maybe the consultant has been working on the report all along—as in, the job posting is just for cosmetic reasons!
don’t the racist negro hating not lay downn his hatred and extricate him/herself from the business of “negroes?
The daily rants against “negroes” are pathetic. Go get a life. Go m********e on a bottle of rum nah.
The problem is that people who weren’t racist before become racist listening to the constant racist rant of the citizens and leadership of the BVI. Ever consider that. Of course not because you all think you are better than everyone else including the down islanders.
Your thinking, rationality perspectives, intellect, insane aversion to truth, and being issue informed are juvenile at best and ludicrus at worst, but your desire and attempts to divide the local against the “down islander” exhibits a tried and tested centuries old tactic.
Reminder, you are now blogging to an evolved and intellectually sophisticated “negro.” What you think he is do not make what you think he is.
Get in touch with your demonstrated limited development.
Another job for him..Hmm. I wonder
Have you thought that this incompetent Board if Directors did not allow this. An industry meeting has been requested for months and this has been denied. This Board of Directors dont care about the sister islands period. End of story
Who the hell wrote this crap? Why pay a consultant for something you do your self? What is a “low touch economy” Stop spending funds on more and more consultants. So Sad!
Here comes Claud again
I agree. He should be Premier. Look at all the money the government would save in consultancy. They would have the all knowing genius without contracts. LMFAO
To Realist – Yep, soon upgrade the Audi to a Rolls Royce with the cash that’s flowing straight into my pocket
One can only wonder exactly where those “new norma” consultancy millions are really ending up.
Thought this was Clines job ?
No clue and need someone to blame , hire a consultant.
He will say
1. Expand the airport
2. Stop putting stupid annoying taxes on tourists.
3. Get some friendlier immigration people
4. Sort out the taxis
5. Clean the place up.
Though Mr Skelton-Cline will take longer to say it.
Hon. Premier you often remind us that you are an Unconventional Leader. Don’t only be unconventional with the way you allocate the Deputy Premier position. Take it further; As the minister for tourism some bold decisions are needed. Bvi went into tourism as an experiment during the 60s; a 60+ years experiment. We gave away and continue to give away a major section of our tax dollars in the name of incentives; while most of the income from tourism escapes circulating in our economy; no tourism scholarships or real contribution to the community in the name of “Good Corporate Citizenship” The entire Tourism Policy needs to be written or rewritten; so that it truly benefits the economy.
After millennium of time dabbling in the Sugar Cane industry, St. Kitts/Nevis like a sleeping giant awoke and raised its head and saw the huge opportunity in Tourism and sprang into action. No one was doing it right. that’s only 15 years ago. They already had the airport; it just needed dusting off; install a better and more powerful AC system and wi-fi. Their search searching for brand name resorts brought home (Marriott, Park Hyatt, Four Seasons, Kitissian Height Belle Mont Farm, +++). In short order Built a cruise pier; turn around built a second, lived within minister their means; (at least within the past 5 years, The Tourism minister. hon. Lindsey Grant is active in the field, with frequent visits during the pier’s construction and other tourism projects. They created their own “Protocols for Financial Management” and apparently are living up to it.
We here in BVI got a bit carried away thinking we were doing fantastic even without a brand name hotel within the past 50 years. Lack of events and activities for tourist; walking around few minutes in town unless they take the trip to VG to see the Baths. Meanwhile we continue to pour money in tourism marketing though most of the allocated $$s is spent on salaries (35-38%), figures that would put most businesses out of operation.
Some ideas: First take stock of where BVI stands: Needs serious cleaning up. Establish a real annual Tourism appreciation month with visits to the various resorts and other properties. Tourism scholarships should be sorted from major resorts and other businesses. The Daily workers at the TB should be reduced as well as the “Board Members”. Marketing budget should be seriously considered wherein larger stakeholders marketing dollars can be merged for greater mileage and productivity.
We need to be different, not just another parking place for cookie cutter hotels. St Barts doesn’t have them and that’s who we need to be.
And in St Kitts with all.these expensive brand name properties the workers.are paid very little
This is BS
That is a way of cheating the system. consultant? That is like me hiring myself to give myself advise on how to wash dishes and receive a nice fat check. The person that understood how to run the TB they F***ed over.
The Ad for this so called consultancy just posted. Looking at the application closing date, and the date the consultancy is set to begin, tells me that they already hired this person! Interesting…..
HW . They hired before ad went out
Closing date is two days time. Work begins in one week. So someone was already hired who will just follow the Ministry of health guidelines, tweak is a little and collect a fat sum. Waste of money. Establish a team from the TB with some consultation from the Chief Medical Officer in the Ministry of health and save a lot of money.
So why not tap in to the expertise of persons in the public service who can render consultation for no extra charge, as they are already being paid. What is the medical professionals there for? What is the tourist board staff there for? What are all the stakeholders (business owners, regular residents, etc) there for?
This is just another disguise to pass money to cronies (and at a time as this too). I am just sick of all y’all!
has anyone stopped to wonder why the Brutus lady did resign just ahead of this announcement ?
she get a big fat pay off and is now free to land this well paid job
doubling her money ?
if she was so great then she would have stayed to see theIslands thru such a tough time. unless of course she don kno who got the job and disagree
They did not want her there and you think they will hire her as a consultant?
The Government said they don’t have money, so why hire a consultation. Please think before acting. We depend mostly on tourist from America, and many Americans have filed for unemployment so they will not be traveling anytime soon. Apart from America the entire world is suffering no one is traveling and it will be a long time before they do. So please put the money to better use.
The fact is that those who have filed for unemployment are not the people that visit the BVI and spend money here. Those that do visit and stay in the BVI have not been affected by the pandemic monetarily. Those that have been are the cruise ship passengers and they will be coming as soon as the ships set sail as long as you let the ships dock. Soooo, open the damn borders, use safety protocols like masks and social distancing and continue life.
Getting options on what to do is not hard — many, many examples. Lots of info available, including for free!
HOW to do it in our BVI, smartly, safely with the reality of our situation is the tricky bit. How to do it, and then getting it actually done — that is where the work lies. And sorry, you cannot import that insight.
Bringing in 6 month / long term consultants, for this, is a waste of money.
If we must, spend for a day or two, here and there for small targeted advice.
Canary Islands reopening — lessons for us there (huge problems with COVID and tourism a few months ago). And other examples within our own Caribbean or other small Pacific island states. People have been thinking about this very actively for months.
https://www.theguardian.com/world/2020/may/23/canary-islands-reopen-to-tourists-offering-sun-sea-sand-and-safety
Don’t know anything about the tourism industry!! If you hire me I’ll kick back 25% of my fee to whom ever…. That’s how you get a job in BVI
Why do we need a consultant for this?
To give me a job because NDP got rid of me when the government changed!
A waste of money, (we’re use to that) why hire another consultant to reboot tourism. A bit of cart before the ass. If an effective vaccine isn’t found there won’t be any tourist and we’ll still be held prisoner
Here is a great chance to redo the BVI tourism industry. Get away from the low dollar cruise visitors and focus on the charter industry and overnight land based visitors.
There is NO way that cruise passengers could be properly screened prior to disembarking the ship. Is the public health worth jeopardizing for the head tax that is collected? No. Rebrand the BVI. Let’s get away from being Natures Little Trailerpark while we still can.
Typical selfish p***k who is either involved with the boating or villa industry. You have no idea what you are talking about as it relates to the economic impact of cruise tourism in the BVI. Can things be improved? Sure! But there’s on reason for us to do away with cruise tourism. Disney/Norwegian does not bring trailer trash to the BVI, these are quality tourists that many times return as land-based visitors once they witness what we have to offer.
Sounds like an ex pat barmaid worried about her tips.
So we just leave the cruise pier empty? Who will pay for that investment? The government has berthing agreements its a binding agreement cruise isn’t going anywhere. Get off that and start a discussion about better management of that industry and how it can coexist with land based and charter based industry . There are a lot of businesses here that do derive economic benefits from cruise tourism.
During Campaign 2019 the then Ms Sharie Decastro introduced and made sure the word INNOVATION to political campaigns. I recall asking her at least once, what does the word mean? I recall her answer being Visionary, Newnes of thought, Imaginative, Forward thinking etc.
It is interesting that Hon Decastro is exactly in the position to use her Innovative approach and ideas to “Make the tourist Board great again”; rather than create a “Tourism Crisis Consultant” out of thin air. He or she doesn’t exist. BVI Tourist Board was never setup to be Innovative. For the life of me I can’t see or imagine our government in this unusual challenging time wasting precious tax payers dollars to come up with an implement Innovative ideas, policies and plans that doesn’t already exist in the minds of our already brainy, imaginary, 50 plus tourism experts at the TB and the equally brilliant Board members; all 14 of them. Let’s go for it BVI TB!
People dont bother apply HW of Wendy William’s fame do e hired as the consultant. Lawd help us. We goin bring wendy back to revive tourism
It really refreshing to see all those geniuses advising the premier, on the fact that he is under the guise of protecting us from the invisible enemy Covid-19 , and somehow supermarkets and stores are more essential than churches. While killing several small businesses in Anegada, Jos Van Dyke, and Virgin Gorda whose whole existence is on external tourists dollars. I for one see this as an absolute abuse of power and the fact that the premier is not a business person, he is out his league and need to ask for help, also coupled with the fact that he and his cronies is engaging in a war with the UK representative the governor. As a matter of the premier has yet to come to the people and tell them the story truthfully.
You are totally correct