Sinking Teeth into the Dead

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Ian 'Magic' Hughes

Monday, 05 October 2009 10:49

By Ian Magic Hughes

I was extremely disappointed to learn that a team led by Tourism Minister John Maginley left Antigua for Miami to woo Carnival Cruise Line's business. In addition to the minister, President of the Antigua & Barbuda Cruise Tourism Association Nathan Dundas and head of the Antigua Pier Group Conrad Pole made up the team. They met with Ambassador Ian Sweeney in Miami and off they went looking for business.

Under normal circumstances, that would have been welcome news. We cannot have too many tourists stopping at our shores. Considering however that Maginley was attempting to get Carnival to change its mind from pulling the Victory, which according to Dundas was previously booked 'til 2011, the news spoke volumes of persons out of touch.

There was no way Maginley could have performed that miracle, and he, along with Dundas, should have known that. To take up the country’s scarce resources "to go feed grain to a dead horse" was irresponsible of the minister. At least, that’s the way I see it.

Had Maginley simply asked the pertinent questions of the relevant persons, he would have known that his trip was futile. Some may suggest that it was a chance he had to take, as he was between a rock and a hard place. Well, maybe that’s true, but let's take a closer look at the situation.

It seems that Maginley truly believed the fracas between Carnival Victory’s passengers and police officers at the St John’s Police Station over a month ago was the reason the Victory was leaving.

With the Victory pulling out, 80 per cent of Carnival's business left as well.

More than likely, Maginley panicked and took a decision to go to Miami and show Carnival officials that the fracas was an isolated case. Someone should have told Maginley that that’s not the way people do business in the real world.

I do agree that at times businesses are forced to make snap decisions. But really, to pull out a ship that is doing good business because six of its thousands of passengers got into a fight with the police just does not make sense. At least, not to me.

Maybe Maginley felt compelled to act since former minister of tourism Molwin Joseph suggested that the Victory pull-out was over the said fracas. Before Maginley left for Miami, Carnival issued a statement and made it pellucid that the September 4 fracas had nothing to do with its decision. Maginley seemingly did not believe Carnival. I wonder why.

I do believe that Carnival had been considering St Maarten for a reasonable period of time. And when I say reasonable, I believe more than a year. In the real world, most people plan their vacations about a year in advance. To think that Carnival would made a snap decision without proper planning exposes a certain train of thought.

Hopefully, Maginley will see this criticism for what it's worth and with some introspection seek proper advice. You may be familiar with the phrase, never let a bad opportunity go to waste. Well, here is a perfect example for Maginley and his ministry, the entire nation for that matter, to make good out of an extremely hurtful situation.

At minimum, we are set to lose $15 M because of the Victory’s move to St Maarten. We can sit back, lick our wounds and play the blame game for the next year, or we can be energized into replacing the lost funds.

How can we do that? Well, for starters, this is where the government officials, along with the private sector, must decide to work in tandem.

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For years, I have advocated for a government think tank to deal with issues including, but not isolated to the tourism sector. We need a group of people who, on a daily basis, research and analyze this very vulnerable market.

There should be weekly, if not daily reports to show market trends and shifts so that we remain a player in this extremely competitive game. There is no doubt that we need revenue, moreso now that we have lost $15 M. Maginley and his team within the ministry should be looking to revamp the Antigua & Barbuda Sports Tourism Alliance (ABSTA). There is so much that can be accomplished by using the celebrity status of our sporting heroes, Sir Viv, Richie Richardson and the rest.

What about 20/20 cricket?

Antigua & Barbuda must be synonymous with the sport after what we have seen accomplished by now disgraced billionaire R Allen Stanford. We may not be able to put on a tournament as big as Stanford's, but surely we must have the capacity to woo members of CARICOM to play a cricket tournament in Antigua.

There are, I am sure, many different ways to ignite our economy if we put our hearts and minds together. Take for instance the whole idea of wind and solar energy. There have been proposals made to the government to move in that direction. It would not only save money, but create a whole new industry for our young and extremely intelligent children.

Education is something we seem to have taken for granted. We need to educate our youth and re-educate those persons who show an inclination to continue learning. We have a blessed country and people love coming here to teach us and to learn with us.

There is a whole new world out there just waiting for us to partake of it, if only we can open our mind’s eye and see the big picture. The future is bright. All over the world, people are coming up with new ways to deal with problems in a holistic manner. We are no different from anyone else. We are just as smart, just as hungry to learn, and just as innovative as any other people on this planet.

What we have been doing, however, is to allow ourselves to be dragged into a political whirlpool that serves this country no real purpose. It’s time for us to release those creative minds, those critical thinkers, so that they can lead us into the future.

We must plan properly. We have been in bad situations before, and we have bounced back. It cannot be business as usual. We must work even more diligently and persons in authority must learn to listen if we are to prevail.

I am very optimistic, but at the same time I know it will be a huge challenge. A challenge is one thing, how we deal with that challenge is another story. I dare say that we should make the best of this extremely dreadful situation. We will be a better nation if we do.

 

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