Desha Skelton of ESHS cops BVI Junior Ambassador title

Desha Skelton of Elmore Stoutt High School (ESHS) was crowned the eleventh winner of the 2022 Junior Ambassador of Tourism Speech Competition yesterday inside the Eileen Parsons Auditorium at H Lavity Stoutt Community College in Paraquita Bay.

The Junior Tourism Ambassador competition saw six students from six schools across the territory prepare and present a speech on one of three tourism-related topics — Agriculture in Tourism (Agro-Tourism), Experiential Tourism, and Community-Based Tourism.

Skelton emerged victorious and for her efforts, she will represent the territory at the Regional Tourism Youth Congress hosted in the Cayman Islands on September 15.

Skelton will also carry the title of Junior Tourism Ambassador and will participate in tourism-related events put on by the BVI Tourist Board throughout her one-year reign.

Skelton prepared a speech on Experiential Tourism where she described a Virgin Islands where visitors can experience ‘BVI Love’ through visits across the main islands of the territory. The ESHS student noted her envisioned plan for tourism involves a personalised experience curated for visitors to fully immerse themselves in the culture and experience of the Virgin Islands.

In her impromptu questioning segment, Skelton was asked what type of destination tourism she would invest in as Tourism Minister, and she eloquently explained how she would focus on honeymoon tourism.

“I would put the most money into honeymooning,” she began. “We can make BVI a new love island; encouraging love between our people and the people who visits our islands. We already have the serene views to match. We can create more excursions to cater to the people who want to get married or get away from their family at home,” the ESHS student answered.

Additionally, Khemoe Foy Jr from the Seventh-day Adventist School was placed third while Angellean Cupid from the Virgin Islands Technical School was placed second in the speech competition.

The other students involved in the competition were K’launi Williams from Cedar International School, Sheudeen Manning from Bregado Flax Educational Centre, and Teagan Bishop from Ciboney Centre for Excellence.

Contestants invited ‘talk tourism’ with BVITB boss

Meanwhile, the Director of the BVI Tourist Board Clive McCoy congratulated the contestants and applauded them for their courage to stand before an audience and deliver their vision for tourism in the BVI.

“I must say I have been inspired by a lot of the answers that you gave today. You are the future of tourism. You may not see it today but the fact that you are on stage and speaking so eloquently about the industry, I know that tourism is in a wonderful place,” McCoy said.

“One of the things I was thinking while listening to the speeches is that we should afford all of them at some point to be able to come to the tourist board to see what we do. There is nothing better than coming to the tourist board and getting hands-on experience on what we do. I am going to arrange for all of you to come by and we are going to meet somewhere to talk tourism,” the Director added.