Tourism Officials Wrap Up Strategic Planning Meeting Friday

~~Adz:Right~~ Roadtown, Tortola- Officials of the BVI Tourist Board will wrap up their annual strategic planning meeting at the Long Bay Beach Resort on Friday, August 15th.

For the past week, the officials have been working on the formation of an action plan to guide the industry in the coming year.

A variety of areas were put under the microscope during the week-long meeting including marketing, consumer relations, tourism in education, nature tourism, online opportunities, accommodation, standards and water sports.

For the first time this year, the board included an Industry Marketplace to allow partners to directly interface with officials, providing an opportunity for concerns to be addressed and recommendations to be made.

Premier Honourable Ralph T. O’Neal, OBE this week expressed support for the efforts of the board and reminded the officials of their duties to promote and foster the development of tourism as well as collect the information necessary to assist in the discharge of their functions.

The Premier affirmed the necessity of creating a “pro-active plan to stabilize this most wanted and valued industry.”

Acting Director of Tourism, Ms. Hadassah Ward told the Department of Information and Public Relations that going forward the board will consistently strive for greater interaction with industry partners.

“We are going to formalise it and make it a regular part of our job so that staff are going to be required to report on the meetings that they have on a weekly basis just to ensure that we are in touch with the industry that we serve,” Ms. Ward said. Given the rapid pace of change within the industry, Ms. Ward noted that it is critical to ensure constant communication.

Tourism is one of the main economic pillars of the Virgin Islands (UK) and Government stands committed to promoting it and ensuring its survival. It is the vision of this administration that the tourism sector will maintain its leadership position as a diverse, upscale niche market destination while at the same time maintaining environmental sustainability, social and cultural balance.