By: Staff Writer
November 16, 2021
The US Virgin Islands (USVI) Tourism Commissioner says the islands are “thriving in COVID-19” and feels that the way forward out of the pandemic will be shared experiences with each Caribbean island.
The Caribbean Hotel Investment Conference & Operations Summit (CHICOS) was held at the Grand Hyatt at Baha Mar, Nassau, Bahamas from November 10-12, and provided Caribbean countries with an opportunity to source fresh investment capital for their respective tourism products as they continue the post-COVID rebound.
Joseph B. Boschulte, Commissioner in the Department of Tourism for the US Virgin Islands, told Caribbean Magazine Plus: “In the US Virgin Islands, we are doing extremely well. I think we have many similar assets to the rest of the Caribbean, beautiful beaches, great people, I think our places are a little different in the sense that we are a US territory, so we follow the US law.
He added: “Our big asset, especially to US travellers, is you don’t have to have a passport to travel to the USVI if you’re a US citizen. I think we are much more similar than that we are Caribbean people will come from a similar descent. My view on a Caribbean tourism is once one of us rises, all of us will rise.”
Tourism’s contribution to GDP for the entire region is just over $58bn and is expected to be over that figure for 2022 as the pent up demand for travel is unleashed running simultaneously with US and European travellers getting vaccinated against the COVID-19.
Mr Boschulte also said: “The key for us is especially coming to the end of the pandemic is to see each island country, especially those of us that are very dependent on tourism, continue to succeed, because every time one of us continues to come up with important information and data showing a performance that gives that next Caribbean Bredrin country the opportunity to say, well, the Bahamas is doing it and the US Virgin Islands is doing it; Well, let’s lean on them and figure out how they do it well and move forward.”
Tourism GDP contribution for 2021 is only at $30bn said Parris Jordan, managing director of HVS, and the chairman and founder of CHICOS, but the pace is accelerating towards the end of the year. He reckoned the slow output due to the lingering effects of COVID-19 and the fact that most Caribbean countries had a “bigger hole” to dig themselves out of compared to other regions around the world.
The USVI is ready for the challenge and in fact, tourism numbers are doing exceptionally well. “Bookings are very good, very strong. You know, we were ahead of 2019, airlift is almost 100 percent above where we were in 2019.
“This season is super strong. We’ve actually had a thriving economy during the COVID-19 situation and a lot of it is the uniqueness of the situation: In terms of we were open really early, we’ve been very, very fortunate and efficient in our management of the COVID-19 virus.
“Thirdly, and most importantly in my eyes, our people have embraced the mind-set of managing COVID-19 and not being afraid of COVID-19. So we accepted the fact a long time ago that we will live with COVID-19. It’s not going away. So we follow the protocols. We’ve been pushing hard on the vaccination plan and we’re very sensitive in reminding people around us that you have certain protocols that protect all of us, please follow them.”
Despite the glossy picture made by Commissioner Boschulte, the Centres for Disease Control has placed the territory on a Level 4 “Very High,” which means that the incidence rate of contracting the disease is 500 out of 100,000 over 28 days.
All of this is just an indication of the pent of demand of US travellers who just want to get out of the mainland US and travel, even if it is to another territory of the country.
With tourism expected to take off in 2022, with vaccinations continuing on their slow rise worldwide, all we have to do is what Commissioner Boschulte said the USVI as been doing and that is learning to live with the disease.