(Charlestown, Nevis) Premier of Nevis, the Hon. Joseph Parry opened the Town Hall meeting in Bronx, New York in celebration of Caribbean Tourism Week, by asking members of the audience and fellow panellists to join him in a moment of silence in honour of the Former Deputy Premier of Nevis and Federal Parliamentarian, the Hon. Malcolm Guishard.
The Hon. Malcolm Guishard died of a heart attack in the early hours Monday June 11th, 2007 while taking his usual early morning swim at Gallows Bay, Charlestown.
In addition to Mr. Parry, the other panellists in attendance for the Caribbean Tourism Organization Town Hall meeting were Minister Premier of Nevis, Hon. Joseph Parry
of State for Tourism in St.Kitts the Hon. Ricky Skerritt and Minister of Tourism for Antigua the Hon. Harold Lovell.
The meeting took place at the St. Luke’s Church on 222nd street in the Bronx .It was well attended by a receptive audience as Premier Parry received great applauses during his presentation.
“It is important that as Caribbean people we emphasize our similarities instead of our differences and become one Caribbean! There are six billion people in the world that is enough people for all of us to get a piece of the pie”, said the Premier.
Mr. Parry also told the audience that in addition to the Four Seasons Resort there would be a Starwood product called the “W” hotel that will open in Nevis 2010. He stated that numerous jobs will be available and instead of looking for workers from the Philippines or other far away places he hope to see Caribbean people hold quality positions at the resort. ~~Adz:Right~~
During the open session, a lady asked,”With the numerous jobs that will be available in Nevis when the “W” hotel comes to the island, I hope it will not be only kitchen or laundry jobs available to local or regional persons?”
Premier Parry immediately responded by saying, ”It was through my Government’s negotiation with the group that brought the “W” hotel to Nevis that they would need to put a tertiary training institute for hospitality in place. Therefore local persons would be trained to hold managerial and other top notch positions.”
Another statement that received a large applause came from a Nevisian lady that stated she was happy to see St.Kitts and Nevis on the stage together and she hopes to see the two islands work together more in the future.
The panel discussed numerous issues affecting the Caribbean Tourism Industry such as direct flights to the Caribbean from major cities in the United States and throughout the world, affordability of airline transportation regionally and creative marketing ideas for the Caribbean destination.
This year, once again the meeting was led by popular moderator Mr. Irwin Claire, Co –founder and Managing Director of Caribbean Immigrant services.
“ A large number of Nevisian nationals came out to support Premier Parry and I was pleased to see how he was welcomed by his fellow nationals and those from the other Caribbean islands, who after the Town Hall meeting, went up to the Premier and commended him on a job well done,” said Mr. Claire.
The Town Hall Meeting iswherevisiting Caribbean Tourism Ministers interact with their New York-based constituents in open discussions about Tourism and the various destinations.
