Tourism suffering from interference and indifference
Interim Executive Director of the BVI Yachting, Hotel & Tourism Association (BVIYHTA) Sharon Flax-Brutus says the BVI’s tourism industry is suffering from interference and is not given the respect it deserves.
Flax-Brutus made the comments while appearing on the Talking Points show yesterday, July 17.
According to Flax-Brutus, the tourism industry does not get the respect it deserves. However, she suggested that this was not the same scenario with the BVI’s other economic pillar — the financial services industry.
“What I find the difference between financial services and tourism to be is that the majority of the persons in the financial industry do not have voting rights in the BVI,” Flax-Brutus said.
She continued: “So, tourism suffers from interference or indifference because our industry is where the votes are. So tourism becomes a political football to the detriment of the country.”
Big players in the tourism industry, Flax-Brutus shared, are sometimes painted in a negative light, even as the government remains accommodating to the needs of the financial services industry, and passes laws to support it.
“We tend to feel that the big players in tourism, most of them are foreign-based entities,” she said. “And because of that, there sometimes, there seems to be that… for lack of a better word, just that feeling that the big companies are the big bad wolves and they’re taking everything out.”
Another issue that was raised, was that some tourism companies – both to their credit and to their detriment – do not talk about the things they contribute to the territory and the things they do for the BVI.
“It’s a political football and you affect the voters more if you put something in this district versus something in the next district.”
Flax-Brutus also said she believed there was a need for a comprehensive plan concerning tourism and pointed to instances where roads were dug up and left undone without any consideration for either residents or visiting tourists.
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“What I find the difference between financial services and tourism to be is that the majority of the persons in the financial industry do not have voting rights in the BVI.”
This makes no sense at all. Is she saying that the majority of persons in the tourism industry do get a vote? If they do, why does that mean that less respect is shown to tourism? She seems to be confused in her own mind.
We all know that the majority of voters work for the Govt! That is why it is so difficult to reform the Govt and make the public service fit for purpose rather than being an employer of last resort.
Same stupid s**t over and over and no solutions or change!
Everybody surpassing us because the Leader that Lorna put in place have no clue as to how a country should be run.
Who does this organisation represent?
Lets see a list of members
They mostly have no clue how to run tourist businesses or attract tourists.
Tourism is surely not suffering from her presence in the Tourist Board. We need the audit report of her to be public to show the people of the VI how she and her cronies used the tourist board to enrich themselves.
Natalio need to make it public. These people are not about tourism, they are about pocketing or if you want to call it pocketism.
All of a sudden Russell is a ghost in his country!
Mr. Premier you must make the audit public. Everyone needs to be held accountable not only some.
I lost…
Your post doesn’t seem to present any solutions, but it does sound like “the same stupid s**t over and over”…
Trying to figure out what she is saying. The problem with tourism in BVI, is that BVIslanders tend to confuse giving good service with servitude. All tourist want or expect is good service, not for anyone to be subservient to them.
The Premier is who I am referring to
She is saying we & our tourism product, not to mention our health is being passed around like a hot potato between local leaders and the UK governor.
The cannabis act 2020 is prime example of tourism suffering indifference for the sake of egos & politics. The governor wont tell us what is wrong with the act to fix it, and the local leaders have gone silent!
None of them wants to talk about the stalled bill due as if it is non-important or their job will be on the line for talking about it. We vote you in for a few years not forever so do what is right while you can.
That one single improvement to our future tourism product would give another added value option to nearly every sector; chefs, spa therapist, variety stores, farmers, professional medical tourism, lab technician research, sailing, beach clubs & bars. The list goes on.
This woman stint as head of tourist board needs auditing. You all will be surprised how she ran it into the ground and how the resources were wasted.
another orginization that claims to be from a sector when all they want is maney paid to them yearly so they can tell people what they are doing , yet they do nothing, BVICCA and now this new BVIYHTA both full of it , with no power or authority now demanding a board seat on the Tourist Board which she left behind in tatters….
Yeah of course, the financial services is why Prospect Reef sits there rotting into the sea. This woman is lacking upstairs, yet another who’s who position.
Whether the priviledge to vote or not should not nor would not make any difference in how the industry is run nor managed, expanded nor developed.
Afterall, it is a business first and foremost. Therefore, it should not be seeking political mechanisms to garner its wings, but intellectual financial and business acumen that will assist in expanding the industry. All theor is just hot air through a hole.
try keeping the airport open , that might help
No, the public needs to see how Premier’s has been enriching himself since in office.Who knows of those words, “them before me did so i going in to do the same so shut yo mouth.” How can we have confidence in a public official of such, even though the generalknows not of such statementss.
This lady is always very unrelatable….
So well said. The resentment and “this is my island” mentality is just amazing in some instances. It’s no coincidence that many of the successful businesses here are started and run by non-natives, because they know the elements of doing business.
The financial services sector provides two-thirds of the country’s income, so of course it is prioritized. And the tourism sector couldn’t work without the thousands of expatriates serving in it.
So the problem, yet again, is the voters sitting in Government and civil service doing nothing productive, but stealing as much as they can.
The problem not just here but most of this world is that we keep electing Politicians instead of people who actually care enough to make a difference. The person with the most money or best popular talking points wins.