The Tourism Sector Development Project (TSDP) was officially launched on Wednesday, July 23, 2008 following several months of preparations by the project coordinator, Tourism Planning and Development Specialist Jasmin A Garraway, according to Minister of Tourism Hon. Victor F Banks.

“This project was approved by the Executive Council in November 2007.  It has been awarded high priority as it is the most comprehensive tourism planning exercise to take place within the Ministry” said Minister Banks.

The first initiative of the three phrase project will entail an Economic and Social Impact Assessment of selected tourism developments and a survey to gauge the attitudes of Anguillians and residents towards tourists and tourism.

The firm CEGR Consultants headed by Dr. Clifford Griffin has been selected to conduct these studies and will begin preliminary meetings on Anguilla this week.

In phase 2 of the TSDP a Tourism Master Plan will be prepared to guide the development of the industry over the period 2010 – 2020.

The Permanent Secretary for Tourism, Dr Aidan Harrigan, indicated that yet another aspect of the TSDP will be the Institutional Development plan for the Tourism Division of the Ministry for Finance, Economic Development, Investment, Commerce and Tourism.

“The Ministry of Tourism is defacto responsible for the coordination, regulation monitoring and evaluation of activity in the tourism sector.  We welcome all the project initiatives and eagerly anticipate the long term benefits to Anguilla as they relate to Sustainable Tourism Development and to capacity building within the Ministry” said Dr. Harrigan.

During the implementation of the project the public and private tourism sector and the population at large will be consulted and engaged in the process.

“This will ensure that the views of a wide cross section of the population will be considered,” said Minister Banks. “The input” he continued, “will serve to enhance our tourism industry so that it meets the aspirations of the people of Anguilla, simultaneously improving the quality of our tourism product for ourselves and to be shared freely with the visitor.”

The Minister and his implementation team are encouraging the full cooperation of the public in this exercise.