Tourism must grow beyond peak season – Hodge Smith

Junior Minister for Tourism and Culture Luce Hodge Smith has called for continued innovation and resilience in the BVI’s tourism sector, warning that the industry cannot afford to become complacent amid global uncertainties.

Speaking on Virgin Islands Voice, Hodge Smith said the BVI must plan for the long term and remain active both locally and regionally in safeguarding its tourism product.

“We have to be able to look down the road and say, ‘we do heavily depend on tourism’. We do gain a lot of revenue from our tourism industry,” she said. “We have to look at all aspects of the industry… things are happening, and it’s a threat to us, but we can’t sit on our laurels. We have to continuously be abreast.”

According to Hodge Smith, the government is working to eliminate the concept of a “slow season” by encouraging year-round tourism, with the annual Emancipation Festival positioned as a major cultural draw to help boost visitor arrivals during the summer period.

“The festival, of course, is one of our major attractions that we could use to increase our visitors during that time,” she explained.

Hodge Smith stated that the BVI is actively collaborating with regional partners, such as the Organisation of Eastern Caribbean States (OECS) and the Caribbean Tourism Organisation (CTO), to address tourism-related challenges and secure the sector’s future.

“These two organisations that I interact with on behalf of the Premier, we’re actively looking at ways in which we can collaborate when it comes to tourism,” she said. “The CTO just released their reimagined tourism plan for 2025–2027… There’s also the OECS [which] recently released the OECS Common Tourism Policy.”

She also confirmed the BVI will host the CTO’s annual Human Resources Conference in October, with over 100 delegates expected to attend. The conference will include training opportunities for local tourism professionals.

“We will be working with the Caribbean Tourism Organisation this year… and we are going to be hosting their annual HR conference,” the Junior Minister said. “The opportunity will be for us to take advantage of the facilitators that are going to be coming locally, regionally, internationally, to help to train our people as well.”