By: Staff Writer
September 13, 2022
The Tourism Minister for the Turks and Caicos said the country is implementing a “regulatory authority” to assist with destination management. She made these remarks as tourism leaders from around the region made their way to the Caribbean Tourism Organization’s (CTO) media briefing on Monday to let the world know the offering still available for tourists in the region.
Josephine Connolly, minister for tourism, Turks and Caicos, said at the briefing that: “Tourism is our bread and butter. Just over 70 percent of our GDP is derived from tourism, so it’s important that we maintain what we have. And in saying this, I mean that we have to provide the best experience for our travellers from the time they arrive on until they leave.”
Describing the TCI as a “multi-island destination,” she added: “Each island has their very unique and has a very distinct characteristic…. Providenciales is the breadbasket of the Turks and Caicos Islands. It’s defined, it defines wall class luxury. We have some of the best hotels in the Caribbean, and I say that without a blink, including the Ritz Carlton, which just opened last year.”
She continued, “Then we look at Grand Turk, which is the capital of the Turks and Caicos Islands. It is our cruise industry. We welcomed just over 1m visitors just before the pandemic and since we reopened in December, we have welcomed just over 350,000 passengers.”
Speaking further about the rebound of the tourism product from the COVID-19 pandemic, she noted that the TCI is one of the most inoculated countries against the COVID-19 and also while the pandemic hit the country’s main economic driver hard, they are rebounding quickly due to their high vaccination rates compared to other jurisdictions. The TCI is at a vaccination rate of 78.2 percent, well above the world average of 63.2 percent.
The highlight of Ms Connolly’s presentation was this new regulatory authority for the tourism board. She said: “The regulatory authority is supposed to ensure that everything goes right with the destination management organization (DMO). We’re going to look at the way we promote the destination. It will be like a regulatory arm for the DMO. But it’s still in its infancy stage.”
Petra Roach, chief executive officer of the Grenada Tourism Authority, also said: “I think one of the important things for us as a destination is that ultimately when you’re a small destination with a population of 110,000, it’s very important that your major economic catalyst has to engage each and every person on island and that’s really important for us, whereas we’re an extremely safe destination. So therefore Community tourism plays a very important and pivotal role.”
Ms Roach also said: “What is really important as well, when you’re a small destination is the attention that’s paid to the sustainability and conservation story. Because ultimately, what we’re promoting are our natural resources and if we don’t take care of them, then that means that we haven’t got a product that we can actually be marketing.
“So again, it starts with the locals and making sure that we have a clean and green environment for us to enjoy. And then moving on from that if we’re enjoying it, then the visitors who come to our shores will also enjoy it.”