Roadtown, Tortola - This year has been a tough one so far for the Territory’s tourism industry but Acting Director of Tourism Ms. Hadassah Ward believes the Territory is well placed to continue weathering the storm that has affected others even more severely.

Speaking as a guest on a recent GIS Radio Report, Ms. Ward said although the Territory has been affected by the downturn in the global economy, the impact has not been as severe as in other parts of the region.

“Although we have had layoffs, we have not had as many closures. When I travel abroad and I talk to my Caribbean brothers and sisters in the industry, their stories are much worse. I think we have fared better than others but that is not something to boast about,” Ms. Ward stated.

The BVI’s well established foray into niche marketing has been identified as one of the reasons why the impact has not been as severe as elsewhere. “We are very well placed in the market and being a niche market has helped us to weather the storm. Whereas other destinations have been just trying to launch into niche, we have been here and we are well established,” she said during the interview.

The Acting Director of Tourism said it is important that the local industry prepares now to take advantage of opportunities that will arise in the future when the global recession ends.

“This is the time of preparing to take advantage of opportunities, retrenching, ensuring we do not lose any more ground; being prepared to take the opportunities when people are ready to spend again. We have to continue to be prepared and we have to continue to prepare ourselves even for worse because we do not know what is around the corner,” Ms. Ward said.

As part of its preparations for the future, the BVI Tourist Board (BVITB) is embarking on a number of initiatives including a new website. “Our old website is quite good but what we really wanted is functionality. Phase one of this website is coming out. It will not have all the bells and whistles that we want but we understand that the website just like tourism is a work in progress and is something that is constantly being updated,” the tourism official stated.

Another initiative undertaken by the BVITB is the placement of television advertisements on CNN International. “We are very excited about that, television advertising is quite expensive,” Ms. Ward said, adding “we do not have marketing budgets that compete with a lot of other destinations and we have had to be very, very strategic but our new marketing agency has given us a few more options based on their negotiating and their contacts to be able to do a lot more with the lower budget that we have.”

The BVITB is also re-launching its loyalty club to further encourage repeat visitors to the Territory. “We have probably a 60 percent return rate,” Ms. Ward revealed, adding “it is one of the highest worldwide in tourism, just simply because people come and love it and because BVI suits a certain type of holiday or a certain type of visitor. We might not be the only place that those visitors come to but they will typically make sure they come back, many on an annual basis and others less frequently.”

The BVITB unveiled its initiatives and provided a report on the sector’s performance at an industry meeting Wednesday evening.

Tourism is one of the main economic pillars of the Virgin Islands. It is Government’s vision that the industry will maintain its leadership position as a diverse, upscale niche market destination.