Financial services sector praised for boosting tourism locally
Director of Tourism Clive McCoy has praised the financial services sector for the role it plays in encouraging major airlines to fly to the BVI.
Speaking at a recent breakfast forum hosted by BVI Finance, McCoy said persons who travel to the BVI for financial services business give the territory a chance to improve its airlift.
“One of the things that’s very important to the BVI is airlift and we’ve had conversations about corporate travel. The better you (financial services) do and the more persons come into the territory for corporate travel, the easier it is for the BVI Tourist Board and the government to negotiate with airlines to come into the territory,” McCoy told leaders within the financial services industry. “Once we know the dates in terms of when people are coming and leaving the territory for corporate travel, we can better negotiate with these airlines.”
The financial services and tourism sectors are the biggest contributors to the BVI’s Gross Domestic Product but the links between the two are not often highlighted within the territory.
BVI’s financial services and tourism sectors interdependent
BVI Finance CEO Elise Donovan, who was also present at the forum, took time to highlight other ways in which both industries benefit from each other. As an example, she said the money the government earns from financial services helps to improve roads and social infrastructure that tourists also enjoy.
She also said hotels benefit from corporate travel and added that revenue earned from financial services helps provide funds that the government use to market and improve the tourism product.
“I think it’s a symbiotic relationship — we are very much interrelated and interdependent,” Donovan said.
Recently, Premier Dr Natalio Wheatley said the government is exploring linkages between tourism and the financial services industry with the hope of finding new ways to capitalise and earn from these areas.
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So these financial service visitors are they tourists or corporate managers with temporary work permits? This article is very vague on the number and status of these financial services persons arriving in the BVI by air.
Can any of them better explain what the correlation is between financial services and tourism is, because there isn’t really one. They just sound so stupid and trying to connect imaginary dots
He can chat all pi** as long as he can he can travel and see the world and his stomach increases he doing a good job. We promoting tourism but look at areas we promoting, they are deorable!
God bless the NDP people like Lorna Smith and Mactavious who held a steady rein for years . Thank God VIP people did not get too much of an inroad into the industry . Bvi would have been in more sh… street .
There is not a capital project they did in 3 1/2 years . They slanderous , lying, manipulating and vindictive . They are taking credit for projects started by NDP election is coming up
My
People beware of the obeah !! The green cloth
Is he saying all the people laundering and hiding assests in the BVI come to visit their filling cabinet corporations? Cause thats what it sounds like.
Time and time again we’ve seen the BVI as one of the top destinations for people hiding assests through leaks like the Panama Papers. What other “financial services” are people traveling to tola for?
So when we say “financial services” we really mean money laundering and hiding assets.
Do people really travel to see their filing cabinet corporations?