‘Experience Turks and Caicos’ to replace Tourist Board on July 1st

On the 1st of July 2023, the Turks and Caicos Tourist Board will officially be replaced by “Experience Turks and Caicos”, the territory’s first Destination Marketing and Management Organisation.

The countdown to an official dissolution of the long-standing Turks and Caicos Tourist Board has begun.

As the Government prepares to wind down the existing organisational structure for good, the Minister of Tourism, the Hon Josephine Connolly, and other officials from the Turks and Caicos Tourist Board held a meeting with the board's staff on Wednesday, June 21, 2023.

According to a Government-issued statement on Thursday, June 22, during the meeting, staff members were informed of their separation packages, and corrections were made to previous miscalculations and misinformation.

The statement said: “The Honourable Connolly expressed disappointment about the misinformation provided in previous letters and acknowledged that proper legal advice was not sought.

“However, she emphasised that the law requires the provision of separation packages, and the board is bound to follow labour laws and the guidelines set out in the Turks and Caicos Tourist Board's Staff Policies and Procedures Manual.”

In an effort to provide greater clarity, Mr Miquel Swann, the Immediate Past Interim Director, explained that there were miscalculations and incorrect advice provided initially, which led to some individuals receiving double payments.

“He clarified that labour laws and established guidelines were used to make decisions concerning final compensation and separation packages”, the Government stated.

While Mrs Clara Gardiner, Chairman of the Turks and Caicos Tourist

Minister of Tourism Hon Josephine Connolly

Board, expressed the board's satisfaction with the final calculations and apologised for the miscommunication and misinformation.

She thanked the staff for their service and pledged to ensure a smooth and transparent windingup process, the release explained.

Despite public outrage at the Government for reneging on its promise that staff would not be made redundant once the DMMO is operational, some 17 employees of the TCI Tourist Board have received severance letters ending their employment.

New Heights

Back in February, during the height of the controversy, the Tourism Minister assured concerned residents that the DMMO will take the territory’s bread and butter industry to new heights.

At that time she pointed out that the DMMOs will be operated through a public/private partnership with an aim of distributing the benefits of the tourism sector across the entire destination.

She said: “It will be what’s known in the industry as a Smart DMO; it will utilize state-of-the-art datamanagement techniques and the latest technology, to identify our best possible target customers.”

The Tourism Minister stressed that copious research reinforces the fact most successful enterprises are public/private partnerships.

Connolly underscored that the TCI has a “grand opportunity” to build on the success of the DMMO to catapult the territory to the next level.

She said: “We cannot afford to rest on our laurels, as fortune favours the brave, those who recognise an opportunity and seize the moment.

“The future success of this country and our ability to maintain our position in the world as a highly soughtafter destination is dependent on how well we seize this moment to restructure and reposition ourselves not only to meet the needs of today but the tourism demands of tomorrow.”

The KPMG Tourism Strategy Report of 2015 recommended a change in the structure of management of the tourism industry.

In keeping with the economic development strategy of the Government of Turks and Caicos Islands, a decision was made to restructure and modernize the entity responsible for the management and marketing of the tourism sector for decades.

The Turks and Caicos Islands Tourist Board was founded in 1970 after former Chief Minister Norman Saunders and John Wainwright conducted a research tour across Caribbean islands and recommended that the Turks and Caicos Islands pursue tourism as an industry.