Joel Providence, the former CEO of Coreas Hazells, says that Saint Vincent and the Grenadines is one of the best places to invest in the hospitality and tourism industry in the eastern Caribbean as a whole.
Providence on Sunday, January 8, said the problem 20 to 30 years ago was that SVG didn’t have an international airport.
“We didn’t have access, and then we said that once we built the international airport, the tourism plant would develop, the room stock would expand, and then the people would come in that particular order.” You don’t necessarily want it to happen in an expanded format but as a sequential process running for 15 to 20 years. “That is why I think the prime minister should, shortly after the airport was opened, set up a special committee to make AIA work,” Providence said.
Providence stated that some aspects should have been completed before the AIA was opened so that certain things could be known, but things are falling into place.
“I would like to think that even though we have gotten the Holiday Inn through the government’s finances, the Marriott with Taiwan’s involvement, Beaches with Sandals, Myah, and others, I do believe that there are going to be more hotels coming to SVG; I don’t think that we have seen the end of it.”
“The climate is right; I don’t know if there are any more incentives that can be granted.” The best incentive is to have a facility and a system where hospitality is concerned that are as efficient as possible. “By system, I mean that when people arrive, they can be guided through the airport; there are taxis; there is entertainment; and the plant as a whole is in good shape and conducive to business.”
Providence stated that people would question the numerous incentives Sandals would have received in Grenada and Barbados and that the same would not have been extended to local hoteliers, and so on. But, whatever it is, he thinks that the government has hit the ceiling as far as they can go with incentives.
“What we just have to make sure now is that when someone gets a concession, whether through the landholding licensing arrangement or other means, that they comply with what is required and do not send this piece of paper to Europe or North America to convince other third-party investors to come and join in and invest,” Providence said.
“The investment climate is as good as it can get; I think in terms of the infrastructure, the physical infrastructure, we are close to what we should have, and the only thing that one may want to comment on now is what we can do in terms of dealing with crime,” he said.
