BASSETERRE, St. Kitts – The OAS-sponsored Agro/Eco-Tourism Project (AETP) is expected to begin full operation following the visit of consultant Dr. Sarah Nicholls, who has been tasked to lay the foundation for the project.
Nicholls is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Community, Agriculture, Recreation & Resource Studies and Geography at Michigan State University.
The AETP is a joint venture between the Policy and Planning Unit of the Ministry of Agriculture, Tourism Authority, Ministry of Social Development, and OAS along with Michigan State University. The plan was conceived in early 2006 to identify potential areas for investment, job creation and income generation in the rural communities of St. Kitts. The project also seeks to facilitate social, sustainable tourism, and sustainable environmental development.
After overcoming a few hiccups relating to changes in representation from the Ministry of Agriculture, the project is back on its feet with a strengthened will to fulfil all objectives before its March 2010 deadline.
In an exclusive interview with SKNVibes, Dr. Nicholls informed that upon the cessation of the sugar industry in 2005, her University agreed to provide technical assistance in the area of tourism development. She indicated that the project is focused entirely on economic diversification, particularly the transformation of the economy from being strictly agrarian to be of a broader service-based nature.
“The real aim is to transform the economy and take employees that depended on sugar and get them to begin to understand how they can take their skills and abilities in agriculture and tie them in to tourism.
“The implementation of the project is very important especially at a time like this. The financial and economic crisis is impacting tourism in every country of the world. It is certainly not just impacting the Caribbean; all of the major destination countries are seeing the same kind of downturn. So, it is really critical at this time to identify the strengths of the island as well as unique features of St. Kitts and these attributes be best marketed to potential visitors so that they continue to learn more about the island. We certainly need to get the name out to potential visitors and particularly highlight what is different about St. Kitts relative to all the different Caribbean islands.”
Nicholls, who arrived in St. Kitts on March 9, was accompanied by a graduate research student Jessica Crawford. This visit, she said, offered her an opportunity to meet with the various representatives from the Ministries of Tourism and Agriculture noting that it provided the chance to understand the existing policies for the respective areas. Dr. Nicholls expressed her hope that the government and the consultants can work closely together to discuss the best way forward in ensuring the project’s continued operation.
Before their departure on March 14, Nicholls and Crawford are expected to begin preparing the tourism development plan which should include collection and review of the relevant tourism development literature as well as promotional and marketing materials for St. Kitts and surrounding islands.
The development plan would attempt to design a survey to be administered to visitors to the island, and would include the entry and analysis of the results of this survey. The plan would also include community meetings with the goal of learning about residents' attitudes towards tourism development.
The AETP was officially submitted to the OAS for consideration in 2006 and is geared toward documenting the nation’s historical and or cultural assets with a view to obtain funding to develop and restore them.
