Acting Premier welcomes carnival victory at inaugural call

Acting Premier Honourable Dancia Penn, OBE, QC presents a plaque to Captain of MV Carnival Victory Gianpaolo Casula in recognition of the ship’s inaugural call on Thursday, October 30

During a welcome ceremony on board the ship, Honourable Penn described it as a beautiful vessel and noted that welcoming a new ship to the Territory is always an important occasion.

“I am delighted to stand in the Premier’s stead and welcome the captain and the entire team to our beautiful island of Tortola and the lovely seas of the British Virgin Islands.”

Honourable Penn went on to note that “the cruise industry we know is of great importance to us here in this country and to our economy.” She added too that “it is the intention of our Government to continue to grow this industry and I am delighted that with us today there are individuals from several very important organisations and institutions in our country.”

Honourable Penn continued by saying the small but multi-faceted group present at the ceremony is very interested in the tourism industry and ensuring its sustainability and future growth.

 Noting that today’s visit is the only one scheduled by Carnival Victory, the Deputy Premier expressed the hope that “in the coming season and we trust that long into the future, we will have many, many more of the Carnival fun ships.”
 
Captain Gianpaolo Casula expressed his delight to visit the Territory, although it is the only scheduled call by the ship as it is in the midst of repositioning its route and will soon be based out of Puerto Rico.

“We are very delighted to be here in this beautiful island of Tortola and I hope that we would be able to come here more times but at the moment, this is our only voyage,” Captain Casula said.  ~~Adz:Right~~

He quickly noted that “the company is so big so for sure there will be many more ships calling to this beautiful island.”

During the brief ceremony, the Acting Premier exchanged plaques with the ship’s captain, presenting him with one on behalf of Government and receiving one from him in recognition of the inaugural call.

Plaques were also presented to the captain by the BVI Tourist Board and the cruise line’s local agents while officials from the BVI Ports Authority shared tokens of appreciation.

Tourism is one of the main pillars of the local economy and cruise tourism in particular comprises a significant part of that contribution.