BASSETERRE, St. Kitts – TWO security consultants from the cruise industry were scheduled to arrive in the Federation yesterday (Nov. 17) to make an assessment of certain areas in St. Kitts pertaining to the safety of tourists, and to be briefed on the progress of the investigation into Sunday’s robbery.
So said Minister of Tourism Richard ‘Ricky’ Skerritt at a joint press conference held by the Ministry of National Security and the Ministry of Tourism at Government Headquarters on Tuesday, November 16, 2010.
The consultants’ visit is a result of an incident involving 17 tourists (including a baby), who were robbed by two masked gunmen of an undisclosed sum of money, jewellery, cellular phones and other personal items, while on a tour bus travelling along the access road to Brimstone Hill Fortress National Park in the vicinity of Lime Kiln.
“The Cruise Industry will be sending in two security consultants to do their own verification of what we have been telling them and to do their own assessments of certain areas. They will be hosted by the Security Forces and will meet with the relevant people to find out for themselves what the situation on the ground is and whether or not their guests are likely to be under attack constantly,” Minister Skerritt said.
He noted that the nation should learn from this unprecedented incident and make the Federation the safest destination for tourists.
“This is a defining moment in our tourism history. It is a wonderful opportunity for us to move forward positively as a country to learn from this situation and to strengthen and fortify our resolve to be, in fact, the safest and most welcoming tourism destination that we can be.”
Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of National Security, Hon. Sam Condor noted that the consultants would be coming to find out about the response and how the investigations have are going, as well as its developments and where it is at.
“The industry wants to be reassured that we are serious about our response. They want to know two main things - the response and also the strategy for making sure that the risk of this happening again is greatly reduced. We are not promising anybody that nothing will happen again, but we want to see that the risk is greatly reduced,” Minister Condor said.
Four persons were taken into police custody for questioning concerning the incident and three of them were charged today, while the fourth suspect remains in custody pending further investigations.
