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| Mr Tyrone OFlaherty Permanent Secretary in the Ministry of Tourism addressing participants at a tourism seminar at Mount Nevis Hotel. |
CHARLESTOWN NEVIS (February 24, 2006) -- An official of the Ministry of Tourism appealed to persons working in the tourism sector on Nevis, to help make the island's tourism product unique in the global tourism industry where the island faced tough competitors through the service they offered.
The call came from Mr Tyrone O'Flaherty Permanent Secretary in the Ministry of Tourism on Thursday February 23, 2006, during the opening ceremony of a one day seminar at the Mount Nevis Hotel Conference Room, under the theme "The Industry and You". The seminar was held as part of the Ministry of Tourism's annual week of activities tailored to bring greater awareness of the importance of tourism to Nevis.
"I would like you to note that we are not alone in a separate corner of the universe. Nevis is a part of a greater sphere of tourism offerings throughout the world. In other words we are not unique. We are not the only country in the world that has beautiful beaches and as they say sun, sea and sand. Believe it or not we have intense competition not just from greater and more established places over the world....
"So although we are pleased and proud of what we have, I would just like you to remember we are not alone in this. So what makes the difference? People make the difference. Nevis has a reputation of friendly people but I would like us however, to add reputation to friendliness, I would like us to be able to add competence, professional, knowledge and honest," he said, adding that a thorough knowledge of the tourism industry and the ability to relate to the expectations through accurate information were important.
According to Mr O'Flaherty, the Ministry of Tourism had sought to deliver greater efficiency in the way services were presented to visitors to Nevis, through the provision of seminars and workshops as a result of which the general awareness of tourism had grown appreciably. He said that tourism had been recently introduced into schools because the Ministry was of the view that "the way of the future is the way of the young people."
Meantime, Mrs Vanessa Webbe Hendrickson of the Tourism Research and Development Unit of the Ministry of Tourism, during brief remarks said, the fact that Nevis enjoyed a high number of return visitors was encouraging. She underscored the need for the provision of first class service to visitors.
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| A cross section of persons involved in the tourism sector on Nevis at a tourism seminar at the Mount Nevis Hotel. (Back) Ms Nicole Liburd Chairperson of the Steering Committee for the Tourism Week of Activities looks on. |
The World Tourism Organisation a specialised agency of the United Nations, she explained, had described tourism as being firmly established as the number one industry in countries and the fastest growing economic sector in terms of foreign exchange earning and creation and therefore international tourism was the world's largest export earner and an important factor in the balance of payments for most nations.
"It therefore means that the service offered to visitors [to Nevis] must lead perhaps surpass international standards. We can be encouraged by the high number of return visitors that we are providing a pleasing service to our guest but we cannot become complacent. This means continually we must try to keep abreast with trends in the world industry of tourism," she said.
There were a number of presentations from persons involved in various sectors of the Tourism industry. Mr Vernon Harris spoke on "The Economic Impacts of Tourism"; Mr Roger Brisbane spoke on "Tourism and Technology" and Ms Helen Kidd spoke on "Know your Tourism Product". The participants were afforded the opportunity to pose questions at the end of each presentation.
