“The people of St. Vincent and the Grenadines welcome you.”
This is the first warm welcome cruise ship visitors will receive as soon as they arrive at our shores, courtesy of a sign donated by the Embassy of the Republic of China on Taiwan.
The sign, located at the Cruise Ship and Ferry Berth, was unveiled on Thursday, April 22, by Minister of Tourism and Culture Rene Baptiste and Her Excellency Elizabeth Chu, the ROC’s ambassador to St. Vincent and the Grenadines.{{more}}
Ambassador Chu, in a brief address, congratulated the Ministry of Tourism on the work they
have done especially in cleaning Kingstown. This she noted is vital in
developing the tourism product.
Chu said the idea for the sign came on her first visit to the cruise ship terminal. She expressed that at the time she felt there should be a sign that would make visitors feel welcome.
Minister Baptiste, on the other hand, stated that the aggressive marketing strategies of the Ministry of Tourism, contrary to what critics have said, are reaping positive results.
These results, she noted, are reflected in figures for the 2003/2004 season with six inaugural visits for the period and 225 calls, the final one being Saturday, April 24.
In October, the Ministry registered an increase of 12.2 per cent in visitor arrivals; November 11.7 per cent; and December 58.2 per cent.
For the cruise ship arrivals, in October there were 5,228 stayovers, 1,055 same-day visitors, 2,177 cruise ship visitors and 4,624 yacht visitors. In 2002, the global figures for same-day, stay-over, cruise and yacht were 11,616. In October 2003, it was 13,044.
In November stay-overs reached 5,508; same-day visitors 1,095; cruise ship 8,314; and yachts 7,655, in October 2002 with 20,204 visitors, compared to October 2003 with 22,572 visitors, registering an overall increase of 11.7 per cent.
In January of 2004, stay-over visitors registered an increase of 11.4 per cent, same-day visitors an increase of 29.1 per cent, yacht visitors registered a decrease of 22.1 per cent and cruise ship visitors had an increase of 61.3 per cent with an overall increase in January 2004 of 14.8 per cent.
The Minister also revealed that the ministry is awaiting confirmation that the biggest ship in the world will visit St. Vincent and the Grenadines sometime in 2005/2006.
Baptiste said the ministry has a multi-faceted approach to tourism and is working along with the Port Authority to enhance the tourism product of this country.
Also addressing the event was Deputy Prime Minister and Minister
of Foreign Affairs, Commerce and Trade Louis Straker.
Straker pointed out that the relationship between the two nations can be described as a “marriage” because the Taiwanese government worked together with SVG and has impacted on every sector of this country.
Minister Straker said the government is committed to providing both the physical and legal infrastructure for the enhancement of the tourism product.
He used the opportunity to disclose that an investment team from Canada was paying a visit to the state to discuss the possibility of building a major hotel at Mt. Wynne.
According to Straker, the 100-room facility to be built at Pembroke would greatly enhance the competitiveness of our tourism product.
The event was attended by members of staff of the ROC’s Embassy, officials from the Ministry of Tourism and Culture and the SVG Port Authority.