May 3, 2001 – Seeking to mend a seemingly widening rift, the presidents of the Virgin Islands' four major business associations have written as one to Gov. Charles W. Turnbull requesting a meeting to address their commitment to the creation of a private/public authority to oversee the development and marketing of tourism in the territory.
In the letter, dated April 25 and released to the Source on Thursday, the "collective leadership" of the St. Thomas-St. John and St. Croix Chambers of Commerce and Hotel and Tourism Associations asked to meet with the governor "as soon as possible to discuss existing common ground and possible alternatives."
Turnbull alienated the four organizations — which represent more than a thousand of the territory's businesses, many of which rely directly or indirectly on tourism — in February, when he vetoed a bill passed by the 23rd Legislature to create a public/private tourism authority to replace the government's Tourism Department.
Instead, in early April, the governor created an advisory council — and proceeded to announce that the four private sectors seats on the nine-member panel would be held by the executive directors of the business associations. The groups, noting that Turnbull had not approached them before making his announcement, said no.
The April 25 letter, on combined letterhead and signed by the four association presidents, states, "Our top priority remains working with you and the Legislature toward the formation of a viable and productive tourism authority." Further, it says, "We are convinced that this body must be a public and private sector partnership. This basic premise serves as the foundation for other successful, similar endeavors … such as The Bahamas, Bermuda, Hawaii and St. Lucia."
St. Thomas-St. John Hotel and Tourism Association president Richard Doumeng said in a telephone interview Thursday that the tourism authority "as originally introduced is dead." The business associations had helped to draft the measure approved in the waning hours of the last Legislature in December. "It's back to the drawing board now," he said.
In vetoing the tourism authority bill, Turnbull had objected to the structure and composition of the agency, which would have had majority representation from the business community. "If those are the primary reasons that he vetoed his own initiative, then we need to see how to reshape it," Doumeng said. The five-year economic recovery plan prepared for and adopted by the Turnbill administration last year calls for the creation of such a tourism authority.
The letter states that the four associations "remain in solid agreement that the proposed 'advisory' role for private-sector participation will not work, and advisory panels have failed consistently to achieve the intended results. We are convinced … the private sector must be part of the decision-making process."
As their "economic rationale" for a tourism authority, the associations cited the Port Authority and The West Indian Co. Both are semi-autonomous government agencies.
James O 'Bryan, assistant to the governor, said Thursday that he didn't know whether Turnbull had had time to read the letter. "It was written on the last day before Carnival activities," he noted, "and since, then the governor has been busy with decisions on all the bills he announced yesterday."
Following a press conference Wednesday to outline the actions he had taken on those bills, Turnbull told the Source that he was selecting four more private-sector representatives to serve on his advisory council.
The five-paragraph letter was signed by Doumeng; Carmelo Rivera, St. Croix Chamber of Commerce president; John deJongh Jr., St. Thomas-St. John Chamber of Commerce president; and Wendell Snider, St. Croix Hotel and Tourism Association president.
It closes with the statement, "We are hopeful this meeting can take place before decisions result in any further embarrassing public disagreements." The comment is evidently a reference to Turnbull's public chastising of the groups for opposing his advisory council plans in a speech before off-island tourism partners at a symposium dinner on April 21.
Doumeng said it need not necessarily be all four presidents who meet with Turnbull. "I know of at least one other president who would be more than willing to allow other representatives to attend the meeting," he said.
