Premier Dr. Natalio Wheatley has announced that the government will soon issue a Request for Proposals (RFP) for the development of a national tourism plan for the Virgin Islands, with completion expected sometime in 2026.
Speaking during a recent press conference, Dr. Wheatley said the initiative forms part of his administration’s broader effort to strengthen strategic planning across all sectors.
“The RFP should be going out soon for the tourism plan,” he stated.
“We’re nearing the end of the tourism policy. There’s a draft that I’m considering in terms of the tourism policy, but the request for proposals for a tourism plan should be coming out soon, and we expect to get that sometime in 2026,” he explained.
The Premier said the move follows ongoing work to align government operations under the National Sustainable Development Plan and to ensure that ministerial priorities are directly linked to budgeting and implementation processes.
“We started with a National Sustainable Development Plan. We’ve been able to now ensure that we have a process by which the ministerial priorities are clearly communicated with the public officers and statutory boards who are obligated to operationalise those objectives and those priorities,” Wheatley stated.
He added that the government is working to ensure that each major sector — including tourism, agriculture, and the economy — has its own dedicated strategy to guide development.
“We are aligning those ministerial priorities with our budgeting process, which we’re going through right now. And in various areas of our development, we will produce corresponding plans,” he said.
“The government has not always been strong in this particular area as it pertains to our planning, but that’s something that we’re strengthening,” Wheatley emphasised.
Calls for a comprehensive tourism plan have persisted since at least 2022, when the Premier first announced that the government was developing a new strategy to modernise the sector. The plan is expected to address key areas such as cruise tourism, air access, product development, and sustainable management of tourism assets.
Dr. Wheatley said the upcoming RFP will ensure expert input in shaping the document and confirmed that Cabinet has appointed an Economic Advisory Council to assist with broader economic planning.
“We are putting the structures in place that will provide continuity and sustainability as it pertains to government actions,” he stated.
The Premier added that planning is also underway for related initiatives, including an economic plan and sector-specific development strategies for agriculture and other key industries.
Nobody of substance will bid. This RFP has been reissued so many times, and so many people have wasted time and money on it, that nobody will take it seriously any more.
I cannot understand why the government personnel or others in the BVI can/t put together plans. So many plans and no progress in so many areas.
This forever RFP for a tourism plan. COMPLETELY RIDICULOUS! Another season is on us and nothing
2022. We needed a plan
2025. Natalio asks others to propose their plan for a plan.
2027 Consultant need to study the proposed plans
2028 Consultant without producing a report chooses plan proposed by newly formed local company with previous experience in shoe repairs.
2027 Consultant gets paid and gets a new contract.
2030 Company producing plan gets first payment of $7 million (minus kickbacks)
2036 8 years after contract signed work starts on the plan.
2036 in 5 minutes Chat GPT has the plan ready
2036 Final payment of $20million is made (less ki kbacks) and a link to the file is sent.
2036 Cruise ships dock collapses due to lack of maintenance. No planes have been able to land since construction of new airport started. Taddy Bay had been used in the mean time but not operational for the last 5 years because the fire engine has been out of service. Anegada airport is used but the ferry service suspended since 2028 means most tourists now only visit Anegada.
Plan is therefore useless. $27million spent.
$700million and rising spent on airport. Still a hole in the ground.
2037 VI under Premier Fahie declares Independence from the UK and Premier Fahie is forever remembered as the Premier that took the VI to Independence.
2038 Financial services business collapses.
2039 New cars now lasting less than a year on IVI roads. Donkeys are TAGS biggest selling item.
@BuzzBVI
A brilliant prophecy.
50 years ago a Virgin Island school girl made similar predictions for her beloved homeland. But alas, no one has heeded her warnings.
“They will come with tools and machines…They will bring to light your secret places…demand your mysteries…My own descendants have sold me into slavery.” (Sheila Hyndman 1958-1991)
and he cant get a plan together up to yet
Guys, chill out. Don’t you remember? We have a plan! It’s just so secret that nobody is allowed to know what it is.
Houston, we have a problem!
These people get elected to do a job. BUT instead of doing that job, they attempt to pay someone to do that job for them AND the tax payer foots the bill…
Here is an idea – Nato, just babble into the computer and have Chat GPT create a Tourism Plan!!
It might stink, however it would not cost us all this money and it would be done in about 30 seconds.
Anyone else want to VOTE for that??
well well wow! Same one who said we already had a tourist plan? Same Luce had a whole summit and spent $100k over on Peter island to come up with a plan? Same waste of time director they hired who we all know is clueless cannot come up with a tourism plan? but Now we have to put out an RFP for a plan 6 years later? Ever since you got rid of Flax over 5 years ago this tourist destination has been operating without a plan? And we still have to put out RFP for a plan? What a joke! You move Festival under Tourist Board without a plan? You are moving the product development team without a plan? RFP for Prospect Reef without a plan?
The incompetence and ineptness is showing in the leadership of this darn country.
I wish that a slate of candidates would run on the same platform, which would include the following:
1. No airport expansion unless and until the Business Case is presented to the public.
2. The airport expansion issue would be put to a territory wide referendum in accordance with Referendum Act of 2002, which established a legal process for holding one on subjects of “national importance.” Notably, no such vote has ever been conducted and this is clearly an issue warranting one.
3. No more open-ended travel budgets and “delegations” of private citizens accompanying government officials on the taxpayers’ dime. The travel budget would be “X” dollars, and could not be exceeded – period, full stop.
4. Prosecutorial reform, meaning overhaul of the Office of the Director of Public Prosecutions (DPP). It’s an independent body, but why is Tiffany Scatliffe, who has been with the DPP since 2005 (and has been its Director since 2020) still holding that position? The question arises because the record of successful prosecutions is dreadful, and getting a case to trial takes far too long. It’s a department that has become yet another sinecure, and the citizens deserve better. Suggested platform for HOA candidates would be that prosecutors would have to bring a criminal case to trial within X months after an arrest or arraignment, and no plea bargaining would be allowed for serious felonies unless the offender agreed to a sentence of at least 75% of the maximum allowed by law. Any prosecutor with a lousy record would get terminated, and just as importantly anyone appointed to the Department, from the Director on down to the trial attorneys, would have his or her re-appointment reviewed every 2-3 years; if their record is not good, they don’t get re-appointed.
There’s a lot more, but these core issues would really signal that some much-needed changes were on the horizon if the citizens could vote for candidates with a real platform and real policy initiatives, not just slogans.