AUGUST 14TH, 2015 – AUGUST 21ST, 2015
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VOLUME 11 - NO. 31
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TOURISM BOOMING TCI gradually moving toward year-round tourism
By Charvis Ferguson
T
he Turks and Caicos Islands continues to be a bustling tourist destination as the country sees high arrivals beyond the regular tourist season. Although the tourist season has normally been classified as November to May, with many hotels closing for during the summer months, this year has been contrastingly different and many establishments are deeming this a successful summer. Hotel giants such Beaches Turks and Caicos are currently at 95% occupancy and the high-end luxury resort, Grace Bay Club, is reporting an astounding 70% occupancy, during a time where resorts around the country are usually closed. Even smaller boutique resorts like The Somerset are experiencing weekly rates of 74% occupancy. Last year, the Turks and Caicos welcomed nearly 1.5 million guests to the country, which was a 31.6% increase from 2013 and from the amount of guest visiting; 435,475 were stopover guest, entering the country via the Providenciales International Airport (PLS). So far, statistics from the Turks and Caicos Tourist Board show that the country is well on its way to experiencing similar success and as of the half-year report, the country has seen 215,000 guests coming in via the Providenciales based airport alone. Director of the Turks and Caicos Islands Tourist Board, Ralph Higgs explains that this success is due to greater communication between the public and private sectors, as well as the extensive
OPENING OF LONG BAY HIGH SCHOOL DELAYED
Due to “construction and some administrative delays”, the Ministry of Education said the Long Bay High School will not open its doors to the first batch of new students on September 7th as planned. No date has been given by the Ministry of Education for the opening, but the Opposition PDM has criticised the delay. See pages 5 and 6 for stories. promotion and marketing campaigns done in new frontiers. Higgs went on to say, that the Tourist Board has been branching out to the untapped Latin American countries, namely Brazil and countries within Europe nations to promote the TCI brands in the hopes of making the Turks and Caicos Islands a tourist hotspot all year round. This long-term strategy to reduce seasonality has been in the works for the past three to four years as the country has had seen
exceptional growth in terms of arrivals due to diversifying the tourism sector. Higgs explained that the arrivals for the first six months of the year are high and comparative to last year’s; however, the number of arrivals could increase if there were more investments made to the building of hotels, in hopes to increase the room inventory. More rooms, ultimately results in more guest, which would be highly beneficial for the growth of the hotel industry in the Turks
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and Caicos Islands. Michel Neutelings, Making Turks and President of the Turks and Caicos Island a yearlong Caicos Hotel and Tourism tourist destination will benefit Association also spoke on the entire country as tourism the successful tourism is the country’s primary season stating: “Numerous export. actions have been taken by Higgs explained, most resorts since the 2009 “Everyone would be benefiting economic crisis to improve from a yearlong tourism their quality of service and season, because tourism is our facilities, combined with biggest source of income in very targeted and focused the Turks and Caicos Islands.” marketing campaigns and He added, “The government investments; which have uses funds from tourism played a crucial role in the for education, paying civil success of the tourism industry servant, public development over recent years.” and throughout other areas He added, “TCHTA, of improving the country; Beaches Turks and Caicos, which means that everyone Turks and Caicos Airports is benefiting from this tourist Authority, TCIG and the season. Tourist Board have teamed Higgs went on to say, up to market the destination the majority of the population and have coordinated all has a career in some aspect their efforts efficiently which of tourism, whether it be resulted in today’s success, it working in a hotel or being is a unique winning strategy an entrepreneur at the craft that is not done elsewhere.” market; everyone is able to get a piece of the proverbial tourism pie. Continued on Page 2