Visitor safety reassured after tourism workshop
By Ryan Haas
Reporter-SKNVibes.com
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| Elvin Brown (right), Royal St. Christopher & Nevis Police Force Constable, receives his certificate of completion from Len Cross. Also pictured, Assistant Commissioner Joseph Liburd |
BASSETERRE, St. Kitts-VISITORS to the twin-island Federation of St. Kitts-Nevis had their safety reassured last week as a five day Tourism Security Workshop came to a close on Friday (Nov. 14) at the National Emergency Management Agency building in Buckley’s Estate.
The workshop was conducted by Len Cross and Associates, a security consultant company out Florida, and taught nearly fifty security personnel from both islands about the latest techniques to ensure visitor safety in tourist destinations.
“We have been happy to share our knowledge with you during the past week and have noticed that at the beginning of the course the participants started as individuals from different sectors, but they have now come together as one force under the banner of tourism security,” Len Cross, Principal Security Consultant said at the closing ceremony.
Aside from those entities most likely to participate in a security workshop, such as the Police and Defence Forces, stakeholders such as the emergency and rescue services, numerous security companies from both islands and even the Ross University School of Veterinary Medicine had representatives present for the course.
Assistant Commissioner of Police Joseph Liburd said he was glad to see such a diversity of participants at the workshop because “tourism is everybody’s business, and so is security…because the success or failure of a destination depends highly upon its security”.
Citing a near 398% increase in visitor arrival to the Federation between 1980 and 2004, Liburd said the issue of security has never been more important to the economy of St. Kitts-Nevis. ~~Adz:Right~~
Some of the issues discussed during the course included terrorism in a post-9/11 world, interrogation techniques, reading body language, risk assessment, crime scene management, bomb threat response and hostage negotiation.
While many participants, particularly those not in the Police and Defence Forces, said they were “hesitant” about their knowledge of tourism security prior to the course, upon completion and receipt of their certificates most said that they were confident in how to better protect visitors. They also indicated their plans to share this knowledge with their colleagues.
Permanent Secretary in the Ministry of Tourism, Lloyd Lazar thanked the participants and administrators of the course for helping to build a better security network that would make “all visitors feel safe at all times because it is vital to the reputation of St. Kitts and Nevis”.
