Antigua-Barbuda Ministry of Tourism prepares for active 2006

Minister Lovell and members of the Tourism staff

View of a section surrounding the V.C. Bird
International Airport.  Photos by Samoya Kirby

Friday,  January 6, 2006

ST JOHN'S, Antigua: Technical staff of the Antigua and Barbuda Ministry of Tourism took time out of their busy schedule this week to celebrate with Minister of Tourism, Harold Lovell, the New Year and redirect their focus towards a very active 2006 with regard to developments in the tourist sector.

The staff was treated to a luncheon at the Sticky Wicket restaurant where Minister and staff looked back at 2005, its successes and failures and made a pledge towards building on the strong points of the previous year.

The Ministry of Tourism came out of 2005 on a high note, with the re-inaugural flight of Condor, a successful tourism week, Delta’s Inaugural Flight, and the Ministry’s major sponsoring of the United Negro College Fund Mayor’s Ball in Atlanta.

The year ahead will see technical staff planning ahead for what is forecasted to be a very busy tourist season with the 2007 ICC World Cup Cricket. Many activities will be planned and executed as a precursor to this major regional event.

According to Communications Officer Samoya Kirby, “The nation of Antigua and Barbuda will be celebrating its Silver Jubilee year of independence, however, although the homecoming festivals do not fall under the ambit of the tourism ministry, any activity that involves increased visitor arrivals tend to mean increased activities for the tourism technical staff.”

A high point of the session was when Tourism Minister Harold Lovell informed technical officers of impending changes to staff inclusive mainly of new additions to come in areas which are deemed important for improvements if the ministry is to accomplish major goals for 2006.

Kirby also stated that emphasis is being placed on moving forward with discussions for the development of The Antigua and Barbuda Tourism Authority as well as the development of the National Tourism Master plan.

As early as Thursday of this week, Dr. Hudson Husbands, Chairman of the Barbados Tourism Authority will be meeting with industry stakeholders to dialogue on the forward movement of the Antigua and Barbuda Tourism Authority. This can be seen as one of the positive outcomes of the National Tourism Conference held last November as a part of Tourism Week.

Prior to lunch, Technical officers were treated to a tour of the Stanford Development Company Look-out Tower facility, getting a birds-eye view of developments at the airport and its surroundings. 

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