PROMOTING THE UK OVERSEAS TERRITORIES IN THE CARIBBEAN AND BEYOND

Question: What do you call a meeting of British Overseas Territories’ Caribbean Governors? Caribguvs…. Britguvs…..? Unlike CHOGM ( Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting), with a convenient shorthand, no acronym  seems to roll off the tongue so easily. But nonetheless the Governors of the  five Caribbean Territories – Anguilla, British Virgin Islands, Cayman Islands, Montserrat and Turks and Caicos – and nearby Bermuda got together for one of our occasional meetings, in Miami, in September (pictured below left).

Our main purpose is to compare notes on developments, consider how we are working with London, look at strategies for the future, and  most importantly learn from each others’ best practice.

I’m struck, when we do meet, by how many similarities there are across our Territories, but also by the differences. One of the most significant areas in common is security, where most of my colleagues also share at least some responsibilities for policing and internal protection on their islands. There are, of course, also big differences, with more gang related problems in some islands than others. Availability of guns is a frequent problem, as we have witnessed so tragically again in Providenciales recently,  and we also considered the value of establishing some form of national security body, as they have in the British Virgin Islands.  Since I returned from Miami, the Premier has already  confirmed his agreement to my proposal to instigate our own National Security Council, which will meet later this month.

Meetings of Cabinet are a common practice across the Territories, although with differences of regularity. Underlining the common Christian faith in all of our countries, every Territory has prayers before Cabinet.  Turks and Caicos’s Cabinet  boasts one of the fastest and most transparent reporting systems – with a written statement  of Cabinet’s decisions issued within 24 hours, a speed which impressed some of my colleagues.

Tourism is a shared interest for all of us, and we considered with London the advantages of joint promotions. On balance most of us believe  we need to market the differences between our offerings to potential customers, rather than initiate combined efforts.

For all of us the North American market remains the bedrock of our tourism appeal, although we recognised the growing attraction of the Caribbean Overseas Territories for tourism from Europe. We in Turks and Caicos have some catching up to do, understandably, with Cayman’s and Bermuda’s frequency of flights from London, but the start of a second British Airways routing to Providenciales later this year is certainly putting us in an increasingly strong position to capture a bigger share of the European market. I have been very struck by Butch Stewart’s (pictured below right) Sandals and Beaches Group highly visible marketing in the mainstream UK press.

Turks and Caicos is also in an enviable position compared to most of the Caribbean OT’s for cruise ship business. At the end of our meeting I called on senior management at the Carnival Group to hear about latest developments affecting our business in Grand Turk. The advent of a new cruise centre in The Dominican Republic this autumn will have some impact and present challenges on Grand Turk, but hopefully we can maintain our great position as one of the top five global destinations, with only Cayman of our Overseas Territories receiving more passengers. Not surprisingly Carnival emphasised how important it was for Grand Turk to start using the $4M. plus we have in the joint TCI Government/Carnival Infrastructure Fund to make our destination a cleaner, more attractive and hassle free destination.

Protecting the environment of our Territories is another fundamental area of common cause, and even the briefest of discussions revealed some of our shared concerns: including reef preservation, wildlife, and litter. Our Consulate in Miami, underlining the value of the wider UK connections, are keen to help promote our maritime initiatives.  I hope that the TCI Government’s decision in Cabinet to explore ways to remove polystyrene and styrofoam products will make us one of the leaders among our Territories and in the region.

Many of these areas of common interest and responsibility will be the subject of further debate and exchange of information when the Premiers and leaders of all the Overseas Territories, including those outside the Caribbean, meet with British Ministers for their Joint Ministerial Council (JMC) in London in December: not the best time of year to travel to England, but hopefully our discussions have helped to ensure that all the Caribbean Territories have a better understanding of how we can work together to make our destinations among the most attractive and forward looking for visitors in the region.

I look forward to attending the JMC, as it is known, with the Premier, when there will be plenty of  opportunities to promote TCI’s great attractions on the UK stage.