St Vincent strives for viable tourism sector

CASTRIES, St. Lucia, CANA:

LOW NUMBERS of stay-over visitors and generally low occupancy levels particularly during the traditional slow period is a problem for tourism officials in St. Vincent and the Grenadines, and with the assistance of the Canadian International Development Agency (CIDA) they are seeking to do something about it.

The St. Vincent and the Grenadines Hotel and Tourism Association (SVGHTA) is giving top priority to a project designed the improve the competence, skills and attitudes of its members, the participants of the tourism industry and its support and facilitating services.

"Conscious that we are unable to do this alone, the Association is committed to building a public sector/private sector partnership for enhancing government's commitment to and structures for tourism development while building its own capacity for training and advocacy", says CPEC's Tourism Specialist David Russell.

The Association remains concerned that the low occupancy levels of hotels, guest houses and apartments especially during the low tourist season was symptomatic of the low competitiveness of St. Vincent and the Grenadines as a destination in the global tourism market.

"Improving competitiveness and by extension, occupancy levels, incomes and profits are priority objectives of the St. Vincent Association which remains fully conscious that meeting these objectives require high quality, competitively priced products and customer service", Russell said.

SVGHTA officials are convinced that they can meet this challenge provided that the business leaders and members of the tourism sector are educated, skilled and amply supported by a sensitised and enlightened public.

"The key to success therefore lies in the quality of its human resource and the strength of institutions in marketing and in providing a top quality and competitively priced service", one official noted.

Just over 800,000 Eastern Caribbean dollars (US$296,000) is being invested in the project which is intended to strengthen the capacity of the tourism sector to complete in the global market place through human resource and institutional development.

The SVGHTA and the Government of St. Vincent is providing just over EC$570,000 (US$210,900) with the remaining EC$245,000 (US$90,650) provided by CIDA through its St. Lucia based CPEC (Caribbean Programme for Economic Competitiveness).

CPEC which is funded by a CDN$25 million grant has been responding to proposals from public and private sector organisations in the OECS, Guyana and Jamaica for assistance in Tourism, Agriculture, Financial Services, and the Construction sector.

Dawn Smith of the SVGHTA said that the St. Vincent project was expected to increase contact interaction and partnership with government in all aspects of tourism development.

"This will in turn increase the visibility of the Hotel and Tourism Association in all national tourism activities, and help improve the skills and attitudes of all those employed in the tourism sector", Smith said.

She said that at the end of the exercise which expected to last for three months, the island is expected to have a well trained service staff in the hotels, there would be improvements in the operation of immigration and customs personnel, while the taxi drivers would be versed in conducting tours.

Future viability

"We expect that the public at large would become more receptive to visitors and would understand why they come to their island and would see themselves as visitors in other Caribbean, European and North American countries", she added.

The project will be administered by the SLHTA with government providing the project co-ordinator, and CPEC providing 29 per cent of the funds which includes a 10 per cent start up disbursement.

Smith said that the project which is seen as vital to the future viability of the tourist industry in St. Vincent and the Grenadines arose out of the realisation that more could be done to enhance the sector especially as like other Caribbean destinations, St. Vincent was trying to compete in a global tourism market.

"The Caribbean is a relatively expensive destination, visitors can go to other places in the world at lower cost and if we are to compete in this global tourism market, we desperately need to provide top quality service", Smith said.

She said the Association expected to be in a position to monitor results within the next three months when a marketing plan is expected to be produce a marketing plan which would then be in place.

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