ATB

Anguilla Tourist Board. It is generally agreed that tourism is the number one industry in Anguilla. I have my doubts. In my opinion, construction is really the number one industry in Anguilla. Anyway, tourism is officially the number one industry in Anguilla. If it is, it should be awarded the highest degree of care and supervision by the relevant authorities. These authorities are the Anguilla Tourist Board and the Anguilla Hotel and Tourism Association. The first is the government statutory board charged with marketing the destination and setting and ensuring standards. The second is a non-governmental organization, the trade association of the industry, so to say. What about their own standards?

Over the years I have had many friends and family visit. I used to be amazed, ten years ago, at their arriving with a thick dossier of information about Anguilla garnered from the internet. Persons arriving for the first time on the island sometimes had more information about what was going on, what was available, than the average resident knew about. They got it all from websites on the internet. The phenomenon is even more widespread now. Websites give all the important information. No one reads paper anymore. So, we have to expect that the websites for our two premier marketing and regulatory organizations are being maintained to a high standard. At the very least, they will not be giving downright false and misleading information. Is that too much to expect?

So, when the 14 December 2008 issue of the New York Daily News carried an article by Jared McCalister on wedding packages in Anguilla, my interest was piqued. Anguilla has long been a marriage haven. I like to think I played my part in developing that industry in the late 1970s when, as a marriage officer, I lobbied successfully to have the period of residence for visitors to get married reduced from two weeks to one day. [My argument was that such a requirement was immoral. It forced young couples coming to Anguilla, intending to get married, to have the two-week honeymoon first so that they could earn the qualification period to get married on the last day of their honeymoon!] The Daily News article read:

Wedded bliss for less
With a little help, love does conquer all - including an economic recession, says the Anguilla Tourist Board, which is kicking off a special “Wedding OFF the Rocks” package next month.

Brides, grooms, friends and families are invited to take part in the travel special, which offers couples the wedding ceremony and the wedding night free at one of the island’s affordable Charming Escapes Collection properties.

The special elopement packages are available from January 5 through March 31, 2009. Guests must book a minimum of four nights to qualify for the “Wedding OFF the Rocks” package, which also includes discounts for family and friends, a civil ceremony, champagne and wedding cake.

For information on the “Wedding OFF the Rocks” Packages, call the Anguilla Tourist Board at 877-4-ANGUILLA, or visit www.anguilla-vacation.com.

There is only one problem with this story. I challenge you to find any mention of this package on the indicated Anguilla Tourist Board website.

And, if you agree with me that this is very poor marketing by the ATB, visit the AHTA website. There you will come across such gems as:

· Bid on rooms on their auction site (nothing listed for the past year +)

· Make a reservation at Rendezvous Bay Hotel (closed for over a year)

· Under Restaurants, eat at Flavours or Straw Hat at The Forest (the first long closed and the second long removed to Frangipani at Meads Bay)

· Under Tourism, play golf at Temenos, Swim with the Dolphins, visit Irie Life at Sandy Ground, or take a day trip on Sea Grape charters (none of which exist any longer).

If you check the banner ads at the top, you’ll find one for Rendezvous Bay Hotel, and another for live weather at Altamer Resort site (down for the last 6 months). There are plenty more misleading bits of misinformation, but I give up.

“Is everything in Anguilla destined for mediocrity or failure?” David Carty, ca 1989.