| PDM rejects Tourism Authority concept | | Print | |
| Friday, 27 August 2010 13:12 | |||
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The recommendation to let a non-governmental Tourism Authority run the Turks and Caicos Islands’ tourism promotion is unnecessary and should be rejected, People’s Democratic Movement party leaders said Aug. 26. “While the People’s Democratic Movement feels that there needs to be some obvious changes made at the Tourist Board, it cannot and will not standby silently and appear to accept the conclusions and recommendations of the Tourism Working Group (TWG),” the party said in a statement. “We believe the TWG means well and thank them for the work they have done, however to make drastic recommendations to eliminate the Tourist Board and basically privatize an important government function that is responsible for our number one industry for growing our country is unacceptable.” In its report released July 23, the working group criticized the government controlled Tourism Board’s track record under the Progressive National Party’s government since 2003. The board drastically increased spending with meager results, running up $8 million of unpaid bills from essential partners in the tourism industry. The PDM pointed out that the Tourism Board was doing a good job until 2003 while the government was under PDM control. The working group recommended the creation of a new Tourism Authority, which would be run by seasoned sales and marketing professionals chosen by a board of directors including eight from the private sector and four from government. The current Tourist Board would then be responsible only for managing a programme for enhancing awareness and educating the population on tourism. In that role, the board should be renamed the Tourism Regulatory Board or absorbed into the Tourism Ministry, the group said. To fund the new authority, the current 11 percent accommodations tax would be split — the authority would get 2 percent for operations and the government would get 9 percent. Under the group’s proposal, the authority would have 14 employees the first year and add seven more by the third year, with total salaries and benefits of $1.3 million in a total budget of about $4 million. The Tourist Board’s budget had grown from $2.4 million in 2003 to nearly $15 million in 2008. But the PDM said the government shouldn’t disband the Tourist Board because of mistakes made under PNP rule. “It does not make sense to throw the baby out with the bathwater,” said Sean Astwood, the party’s shadow minister of tourism. “What should be done in areas where weaknesses have been identified by the TWG is that internal controls should be established and implemented immediately to address and prevent those weaknesses from reoccurring.” The PDM statements did not address any of the litany of weakness identified in the working group’s report, such as the harsh criticism of the immigration officials and their effect on tourism. “The working group considered that the immigration service as currently structured is dysfunctional and a substantial liability to the country’s efforts to promote tourism,” the group said. “It seemed to all the members of the working group that the Immigration Department was treated as a dumping ground for people with attitude problems in the other parts of the civil service.” The group also said the country must take radical measures to reduce crime and make it cheaper to fly to the islands to bolster tourism to the country. In September 2009, the governor appointed lawyer and businessman Clive Stanbrook to chair the group tasked with recommending the best relationship between the government and the private sector for successfully promoting tourism. The group included Art Pickering, Arthur Been, Brian Lightbourne, Clayton Thomas, David Bowen, Julia Williams, Kingsley Been and Mark Durliat. Click HERE to read Sean Astwood’s statement. Click HERE to read the PDM’s statement. Click HERE to read the working group’s report.
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