A 14-member council comprising of stakeholders in the tourism sector was officially commissioned on Monday by Premier and Minister of Tourism Joseph Farrell.
During a Town Hall led by tourism director Warren Solomon, the council members were given their official letters of membership to the newly formed entity. Nerissa Golden, Editor of Discover Montserrat sits on the council as a representative of the media sector.
The Montserrat Tourism Stakeholders Advisory Council has a mandate to inform tourism policy and strategy for the island and set the tone in realising the vision for the local tourism industry of Sustainable Development Thru Quality Tourism.
The members will serve from Nov 9 to December 31, 2021 on a voluntary basis. The council can have a maximum of 15 members all with voting rights. Members must come from the accommodation/real estate, tour and taxi association, Chamber of Commerce, national trust, cruise line agent/tour operator, watersports, environment, airline, restaurant, academia, media, entertainment/culture and Arts & Craft.
The purpose of the council is to:
- Act as the primary conduit for representation of the tourism industry to the Government of Montserrat
- Advise GOM/Minister of Tourism (MoT) on the wider community
- Provide recommendations to GOM/MoT on the development of policy and strategy relating to tourism in Montserrat.
- Identify haps in the tourism product offering, as well as barriers to providing positive visitor experience and make recommendations on how these gaps and barriers can be addressed.
- Help grow the visitor economy on a sustainable basis
- Inform the establishment of tourism industry standards
- Provide inputs on key marketing and branding activities to support increased visitor demand to Montserrat
- Assist in building stronger local community awareness of the importance and value of tourism to the economy
- Recommend tourism industry training and capacity building initiatives
- To help build positive relationships between GOM and all tourism stakeholders
- To act as a sounding board for new tourism ideas and initiatives
- To provide feedback for tourism campaigns and initiatives
- To identify new tourism-related partnership opportunities
- Ensure that there is an alignment between the tourism related objectives and activities of the various local partners and national tourism initiatives.
Montserrat Tourism Stakeholder Advisory Council Members are:
- Ron Barzey, Cathron – Arts & Craft
- Norman Cassell, Namcas Enterprises Tour – Operator/Tour Guide
- Roselyn Cassell-Sealy, Travel World – Tour & Taxi Association
- James “Scriber” Daley, Scriber’s Adventure – Tours Hiking/Outdoor Adventure
- Sarita Francis, Montserrat National Trust – Environment /History / Culture
- Merle Galloway, Tropical Mansion Suites – Accommodation
- Reinford “Kulcha Don” Gibbons, VIP Penthouse and Suite – Entertainment
- Nerissa Golden, Goldenmedia/Discover Montserrat – Media
- Angela Greenaway, Community College – Academia
- Florence Griffith-Joseph, Old Sugar Mill – Chamber of Commerce & Industry
- Nigel / Shelley Harris, Fly Montserrat – Air
- Dwayne Hixon, Emerald Isle Real Estate – Real Estate
- Emmy Aston, Scuba Montserrat – Watersports
- Genishwar Beni, Summer Breeze – Restaurant
