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| Richard Skerritt, Minister of Tourism, Sports and Culture |
BASSETERRE, St. Kitts (July 28, 2006): Plans for the establishment of a marine park was announced to promote the dive and tourism product of St. Kitts.
During a press conference held at the Ocean Terrace Inn on Tuesday, July, 25, at 9 a.m. Richard Skerritt, Minister of Tourism, Sports and Culture gave brief remarks on the matter to discuss fragmetic and scientist stuff about critical environment challenges.
"It's for our future generation, its going to be our nature and culture heritage," he said. "The idea is not new to St. Kitts - Better late than never. We are here because travelers are becoming increasingly sophisticated of their selection of Tourism destinations."
With several hundred wrecks and untouched coral reefs, divers will truly be delighted and amazed at what they will discover there after. The sites will provide a wide variety of dives for both beginner and skilled divers.
He went on to note the five objectives of the press conference which are to raise general awareness of the importance, value and fragility of our marine resources. Another objective is to provide a forum to encourage the free flow of opinions and exchange information among all stakeholders involved.
Also to facilitate stakeholders' participation in decision making about management and protection of our underwater resources and to map out a structure for going forward. To focus on Dive Tourism and what dive retailers and instructors can do to improve the dive tourism experience.
Alex Brylske and Jerry Beatty are two individuals who have some experience in the establishment. The two men were introduced by Candice Kimmel, President of Adam Unlimited PR and Marketing Company. They took the time in hosting a presentation on the subject and answering questions from stakeholders who were present.
Brylske has 25 years of diving in the industry, and a highly respected authority on diver education. He's currently the training manager for the Coral Reef Alliance. He is responsible for developing and conducting educational programmes supporting CORAL's efforts to improve business practices in the marine recreation sector, and build alliances between tourism operators and resource managers.
Beatty has 30 years in the business side of scuba diving, developing unmatched knowledge, contacts and insights into the industry. In the 1980s, Jerry was a manufacturer's representative for several major dive equipment lines. For the past ten years, as Dive Training's Associate Publisher, Jerry has consulted with governments, hotels, tourism offices and dive operators on the ways to increase dive tourism.
