A tourism and financial services push into the Middle East and South Asia was signalled by Premier Natalio “Sowande” Wheatley at a recent global gathering of political and business leaders in Dubai.
The premier used his appearance at the World Governments Summit on Feb. 3-4 to stress that the Virgin Islands is intent on expanding into new markets.
In tourism, he said, the government wants to balance the VI’s heavy reliance on American visitors by attracting more travellers from the Persian Gulf and India.
“Tourism continues to be very strong, but we also want to diversify our markets in tourism,” he said.
As proof of the territory’s determination, he pointed to the planned $400 million-plus expansion of the Terrance B. Lettsome International Airport runway from its current 4,648 feet to 7,000 feet.
“Soon we will be extending our airport runway, and we hope to facilitate long-haul flights that would facilitate persons coming from places like the Middle East and Asia,” Mr. Wheatley said.
The tourism push will complement an ongoing drive for new financial-services business designed to widen the VI’s traditional footprint in East Asia, Mr. Wheatley told the summit.
“Of course, we want to diversify our markets: We want more business coming from the Middle East, from Asia, etcetera,” he said. “We are going on a big trade mission later this year to India, to Asia.”
On the margins of the global gathering, Mr. Wheatley also attended the 10th Association of Caribbean States International Cooperation Conference.
There, he attended a session featuring Bermuda Premier David Burt and moderated by CNN’s Eleni Giokos.
In another session, Mr. Wheatley joined Grenada Prime Minister Dickon Mitchell for a conversation with Geeta Mohan, senior executive editor of the “India Today” programme broadcast on India’s TV Today Network.
6,000 delegates
This year’s World Governments Summit was the largest yet, with more than 6,000 delegates, including 35 heads of government and representatives from over 100 international organisations.
The focus of the meeting ranged across areas including economic resilience, artificial intelligence and global governance.
Speaker lineup
Speakers included Spain Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez, Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development General Secretary Mathias Cormann, International Civil Aviation Organisation President Toshiyuki Onuma, IBM CEO Arvind Krishna, International Monetary Fund Managing Director Kristalina Georgieva and Swiss Confederation President Guy Parmelin, among others.
EDITOR’S NOTE: This article has been amended to correct inaccurate information provided by the Premier’s Office about the session with Bermuda Premier David Burt.