Q & A with John Maginley, Tourism Minister of Antigua & Barbuda, CTO Chairman

Caribbean News Digital’s special reporter in Bermuda covered the two-day sessions of the Caribbean Hotel and Tourism Investment Conference (CHTIC 2009) and talked with John Maginley, Antigua and Barbuda’s new Minister of Tourism, about the challenge of his new position and the plans he has in store as chairman of the Caribbean Tourism Organization for the upcoming Second Tourism Summit in the U.S. and the Caribbean Week.

Q.- What actually motivated you to take on such a major challenge?
A.- I was appointed Minister of Tourism by the Prime Minister, the Hon. Spencer and Antigua won the elections to his CTO for the next two years. So, as a Minister of Tourism I have the responsibility of doing it. I think it’s going to be a wonderful challenge. Some people think this is a challenging time, but I look at it differently; I think it’s an exciting time that actually means some changes and offers some new directions in tourism. So, I look forward to the challenge.

Q.- Perhaps the crux of your new challenge is going to be the Summit in Washington and the Caribbean Week. What are you expecting for the Summit now that you’re going to meet new people in Washington, that you’ve got this passport issue? What do you think it’s going to happen there?
A.- We have to make sure that our American counterparts understand the significance of decisions that they made and it affects all of us in the Caribbean. We look forward to meeting with them and trying to get as many people as we can aware of our challenges and make sure that they understand when they make decisions that affect all of us.

Q.- Some people believe the marketing agenda for this Summit is not ready yet, let alone so many things that have happened along the way, like Mr. Sobers’ passing, the ongoing financial crisis. Is one of your top priorities to work for a marketing agenda for the Caribbean?
A.- Yes, and we have to get funding in place to make sure that the market, the region as a whole and any individual company have to get together and work in their own individual markets. As CTO, we want to continue that drive towards a regional marketing fund and make sure that we market the Caribbean as a region. As you know, the Caribbean only gets 2.5 percent of the world tourism, so if we can increase that to 5 percent of the world’s tourism, then every country in the Caribbean will benefit, and every member of CTO will benefit.

Q.- Let’s assume you get that marketing fund. How will you break it down? I mean, how much of a percentage will you earmark for Europe, America, South America and other markets?
A.- I don’t know those numbers yet and the experts will have to give us those figures.

Q.- Let’s put it this way: what will be your top priority if you had money to spend on marketing?
A.- Each and every one of our countries has different views in this issue. If you talk to people in Bermuda, they tell you that most of their visitors come from the East Coast of the U.S., while in the case of Barbados, the largest chunk of their visitors comes from the UK in Europe. So, we will have to target all the regions. But how that breaks down will be decided later.

Q.- Have you attended the Caribbean Week before?
A.- No, this is going to be my first time. I was actually the Minister of Health for five years for Antigua, so this will be my first time.

Q.- So, your expectations must be high then, right?
A.- Yes, we do have expectations about how people might respond to our call for more involvement, for better understanding.

Q.- How do you label this conference?
A.- I think it’s been quite informative. We had a neat show of nearly 300 participants and we’re very pleased with the showing. I had the opportunity to meet a lot of big players in the business, which is very important for a new minister. Instead of trying to reach out to these people individually, they have come together to one place and so you meet the marketers, the PR experts, the financiers, the managers, the public officials and so on. So, this has been very rewarding for me.