Ministry happy with Tourism Youth Symposium turn-out

Director of Tourism Vida Bernard has expressed satisfaction with the inaugural tourism youth symposium held on Thursday November 24.{{more}}

Over thirty participants showed up at the National Insurance Services training room for the symposium which was part of the calendar of events for the Annual Tourism Week of activities.

“I am very pleased with the support we have gotten from the Ministry of Education and National Security Ministry because when we conceived the idea of having the symposium, we thought about who we would invite…

“We decided to invite the students at the tertiary level and we are grateful full to the ministries for giving these students the time off to be in attendance.”

“I must say that the Authority is satisfied with the turn out here today,” Bernard said.

Thursday’s symposium attracted students from different divisions of the Community College, including the Division of Arts, Science and General Studies, the Division of Teacher Education and the School of Nursing. A contingent from the police training centre was also in attendance.

The one-day symposium had as its objective, to increase students’ awareness of the impact of tourism development,[and]

“…To provide a forum to share insights from different sectors of the economy…. and to foster economic discussion on the tourism industry…”

The four speakers at Thursday’s event were Rodica Tannis, Site Supervisor for the National Parks Rivers and Beaches Authority; Dr. Rudy Mathias, Chairman and CEO of the International Airport Development Company Ltd; Environmental Analyst within the Ministry of Health, Yasa Belmar and Cleo Jones Huggins, Executive Director of Invest SVG.

Tannis briefed the participants about the importance of site and attraction development and the impact that can have on further tourism development for St. Vincent and the Grenadines.

Dr. Mathias discussed the importance and impact of airport development on tourism.

Belmar spoke about “Environment and tourism, friend or foe”, highlighting the relationship between the environment and tourism.

Cleo Jones Huggins shed light on tourism investment and the impact this has on further advancement of the country’s tourism industry.

Following the presentations by the four invited speakers, an open forum was held in the afternoon session during which the speakers and participants were engaged in discussions pertaining to tourism in St. Vincent and the Grenadines.

According to Bernard, because of the success of the symposium, “it is the Authority’s intentions to now make it an annual event.”

The Ministry of Tourism and Industry celebrated its Annual Tourism Week of activities from Sunday November 20 to Saturday, November 26 under the theme “Preserving and Promoting Our Culture through Tourism”.