While Turks and Caicos has a reputation for being a prime tourist destination, crime continues to threaten its sustainability in the sector, says the island's Premier Dr Rufus Ewing.In a Sunday Guardian interview, he said although the British overseas territory has been able to contain incidents of criminality, any escalation of nefarious activity would devastate its economy.
"Turks and Caicos have one of the lowest crime rates in the Caribbean, but recently we have been challenged and like most Caribbean countries crime is an issue and we need to put strategies and plans in place to stamp out crime. But we still enjoy a very safe destination and because of that we don't have room for error and shortcomings, because these days with (the) Internet and social media, your reputation can be ruined with just one incident," said Ewing who also has responsibility for tourism.
The Turks and Caicos emerged tops in recent travel research conducted on destinations across the world. Its beaches were hailed as outstanding, too, all of which underscored the natives rationale for theming the island: "Beautiful by Nature."The island has put in place a successful marketing strategy to boost visitor arrivals.The Government must now work to balance tourism economics with the preservation of its lands.
Ewing said, "Our success in tourism was possible through the investment we had made over the years, prior to the decline in tourism; investment in the destination product and the kind of product we want to sell. We also looked at issues related to security, safety and service and most important partnerships in airlift, marketing and promotion. The most important infrastructure was the development of roads, telecommunications and our cruise ports."
He added, "Airlift was also invested in heavily. Airlift was critical to our sustainability. You can have all the rooms in the world, but if you don't have the airlift to get them there, they will be empty."
They saw it necessary to invest in airlift both at the Government level and through partnerships with other private sector entities.
"American Airlines accounts for a significant portion of our airlift, about 40 per cent, while of recent the heavy investment in US Air also account for 16 per cent; and the recent introduction of Jet Blue, which is another initiative, a part of public-private sector partnership which resulted in subsidising Jet Blue's coming to the Turk and Caicos resulted in another 16 per cent increase in our visitor arrivals in 2011-2012."
The Government of the Turks and Caicos intends to rejuvenate its already bumper tourism machinery by implementing a new immigration programme that will see visitors and tourists classified as VIPs on arrival and treated so, Ewing said.