Sixty-five million years ago on an island in a sea lived an affable dinosaur named Aladar being raised by a band of lemurs. A brilliant meteor explosion, which initiates "Dinosaur," had thrown Aladar into this peculiar circumstance.
Another meteor explosion takes Aladar and his lemur pals to the mainland where they begin a search for foliage seeking the fabled Nesting Ground. Not so fast there, Aladar, there's a band of big, bad dinosaurs after you, searching for the same place. And so it goes. Good guys, bad guys, iguanodon and pterodactyls.
But Disney always comes through, and the computer generated images are reputedly "astounding, seamlessly blending with real life locations." The film is said to fade a bit on the long trek through the desert, with the older and weaker falling by the wayside, or whatever they fell by those millions of years ago. Big desert, no Big Macs.
Voices are provided from some highly unlikely quarters. Ossie Davis is the head lemur, a wise old soul, and none other than the British Lady Joan Plowright as Baylene, an elderly Brachiosaur, who gives Aladar motivation for his quest, and brings a "bold spirit and disarming dignity" to the role.
Directed by Ralph Zondag and Eric Leighton, the film also stars the voices of D. B. Sweeny as Aladar and Julianna Marguiles as his love interest.
It is rated PG for intense images.
It is playing at Market Square East.
COMMITTEE MEETING CANCELED – NO QUORUM
Lack of a quorum canceled a Senate Planning and Environment Protection Committee meeting Monday morning.
The meeting, chaired by Sen. Adlah "Foncie" Donastorg, was to hear bills to enact the Environmental Leadership Pollution Prevention Act, to establish a mid-island library on St. Thomas and to allow Planning and Natural Resources officers to issue citations to persons who violate fishing, hunting and wildlife laws.
Committee members Norman Jn Baptiste and Almando "Rocky" Liburd sent letters excusing themselves from the meeting, as did testifier Claudette Lewis, assistant PNR commissioner. Donald "Ducks" Cole was the sole committee member present.
Donastorg adjourned the meeting and said a new date would be set soon.
The meeting, chaired by Sen. Adlah "Foncie" Donastorg, was to hear bills to enact the Environmental Leadership Pollution Prevention Act, to establish a mid-island library on St. Thomas and to allow Planning and Natural Resources officers to issue citations to persons who violate fishing, hunting and wildlife laws.
Committee members Norman Jn Baptiste and Almando "Rocky" Liburd sent letters excusing themselves from the meeting, as did testifier Claudette Lewis, assistant PNR commissioner. Donald "Ducks" Cole was the sole committee member present.
Donastorg adjourned the meeting and said a new date would be set soon.
THIS TALE OF DISIMPROVEMENT SOUND FAMILIAR?
Once upon a time, there was a community of happy people in the hills above Christian Town on the island of Saint Crux in the Vertigo Isles. The people liked their little village so much that they called it My Jewel.
And Government looked at the village of My Jewel, and said, "This is good, but we can make it better." And the people of My Jewel said, "Are you certain?" – because life was indeed very good and they did not want to spoil it. And Government said, "We are absolutely certain we will make things better, and who asked you, anyway?"
So, to make things better, Government made a housing project and roads. And the housing and roads made the waters course through the village of My Jewel every time it rained. And the village flooded, and the roads were cut off, and the houses were flooded, and the people were at risk, and the neighboring villages were also affected . . .and the people of My Jewel were scared and angry. . . .
And in 1971, the people went to the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers and said, "Help!" And the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers said, "The problem is the housing and roads that Government made. But no big thing; it can be fixed with a few million dollars, and King U.S. has agreed to pay three-quarters." So the people of the village of My Jewel said, "Good." And they waited for Government to fix it.
And they waited . . .
And they waited . . .
And waited . . .
In the meantime, whenever it rained, the village flooded, and the roads were cut off, and the houses were flooded, and the people were at risk, and the neighboring villages were also affected . . .
And after 9 or 10 years (half a generation to the villagers), the people of My Jewel said, "Maybe Government forgot." So the people of My Jewel went to Court, and asked the Judge to remind Government to fix the housing and the roads, to stop the flooding. And in 1981, the Judge said, "Indeed, this is wrong, and Government must make it right. So fix it, Government!"
And the people were content, because the Judge had spoken, and they knew now that Government would fix it. And they waited for Government to fix it.
And they waited . . .
And they waited . . .
And waited . . .
In the meantime, whenever it rained, the village flooded, and the roads were cut off, and the houses were flooded, and the people were at risk, and the neighboring villages were also affected . . .
And after another 17 or 18 years (nearly another generation to the villagers), the people of My Jewel said, "Maybe Government forgot, and maybe the Judge forgot." So the people of My Jewel went to Court again, and asked the Judge to remind Government to fix the housing and the roads, to stop the flooding. And the Judge said, "Indeed, this is wrong, and Government must make it right. So fix it, Government! In 30 days, and I really mean it!"
And that was 18 or 19 months ago, and the people are waiting . . .
And waiting . . .
And waiting . . . for 30 years
In the meantime, whenever it rains, the village floods, and the roads are cut off, and the houses are flooded, and the people are at risk, and the neighboring villages are also affected . . .
And Government went to the people of the village of My Jewel and all of the other villages of Saint Crux and all of the other islands of the Vertigo Islands, and said, "Tell us, now, honestly, what can we do to mitigate the risk of flooding in the Vertigo Isles?"
And the people of all the villages of all the Vertigo Isles were vexed and disgusted and sucked their teeth . . . because the village of My Jewel was not the only place where Government had made things better.
And Government looked at the village of My Jewel, and said, "This is good, but we can make it better." And the people of My Jewel said, "Are you certain?" – because life was indeed very good and they did not want to spoil it. And Government said, "We are absolutely certain we will make things better, and who asked you, anyway?"
So, to make things better, Government made a housing project and roads. And the housing and roads made the waters course through the village of My Jewel every time it rained. And the village flooded, and the roads were cut off, and the houses were flooded, and the people were at risk, and the neighboring villages were also affected . . .and the people of My Jewel were scared and angry. . . .
And in 1971, the people went to the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers and said, "Help!" And the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers said, "The problem is the housing and roads that Government made. But no big thing; it can be fixed with a few million dollars, and King U.S. has agreed to pay three-quarters." So the people of the village of My Jewel said, "Good." And they waited for Government to fix it.
And they waited . . .
And they waited . . .
And waited . . .
In the meantime, whenever it rained, the village flooded, and the roads were cut off, and the houses were flooded, and the people were at risk, and the neighboring villages were also affected . . .
And after 9 or 10 years (half a generation to the villagers), the people of My Jewel said, "Maybe Government forgot." So the people of My Jewel went to Court, and asked the Judge to remind Government to fix the housing and the roads, to stop the flooding. And in 1981, the Judge said, "Indeed, this is wrong, and Government must make it right. So fix it, Government!"
And the people were content, because the Judge had spoken, and they knew now that Government would fix it. And they waited for Government to fix it.
And they waited . . .
And they waited . . .
And waited . . .
In the meantime, whenever it rained, the village flooded, and the roads were cut off, and the houses were flooded, and the people were at risk, and the neighboring villages were also affected . . .
And after another 17 or 18 years (nearly another generation to the villagers), the people of My Jewel said, "Maybe Government forgot, and maybe the Judge forgot." So the people of My Jewel went to Court again, and asked the Judge to remind Government to fix the housing and the roads, to stop the flooding. And the Judge said, "Indeed, this is wrong, and Government must make it right. So fix it, Government! In 30 days, and I really mean it!"
And that was 18 or 19 months ago, and the people are waiting . . .
And waiting . . .
And waiting . . . for 30 years
In the meantime, whenever it rains, the village floods, and the roads are cut off, and the houses are flooded, and the people are at risk, and the neighboring villages are also affected . . .
And Government went to the people of the village of My Jewel and all of the other villages of Saint Crux and all of the other islands of the Vertigo Islands, and said, "Tell us, now, honestly, what can we do to mitigate the risk of flooding in the Vertigo Isles?"
And the people of all the villages of all the Vertigo Isles were vexed and disgusted and sucked their teeth . . . because the village of My Jewel was not the only place where Government had made things better.
Editor's note: Bruce Potter is the president of Island Resources Foundation, a not-for-profit environmental research and education organization based in the Virgin Islands. IRF is in the process of drafting a Flood Hazard Mitigation Plan for the territory, a plan about 140 pages long. What is presented here, according to Potter, is "a much shorter fairy tale" in which any resemblance to the people of the Virgin Islands or the St. Croix village of Mon Bijou is purely coincidental.
BURKE: WAPA'S TOP MAN ON ST. CROIX STILL HAS JOB
Rumors that the V.I. Water and Power Authority’s top manager on St. Croix, Gregory Willocks, has been fired are just that – rumors.
Carol Burke, chairwoman of the WAPA board, set the record straight on Friday, saying that Willocks was on vacation and had not been axed.
"He’s not been fired or dismissed," Burke said. "He’ll be returning."
The questions surrounding the status of Willocks’ employment stem from a short job walkout staged by WAPA employees on St. Croix on June 9. They were protesting poor working conditions and inadequate training at the Estate Richmond power plant.
In addition, the workers complained of Willocks’ management style, saying it was affecting morale. Willocks, assistant executive director, oversees St. Croix operations for the public utility.
A day after the walkout, representatives of the workers met with WAPA board members and upper management to air their grievances, most of which were directed at Willocks. Burke said the safety concerns and lost production during the walkout spurred the board to get involved in the dispute.
"Some of the issues hadn’t been adequately addressed by management," Burke said. "Nonetheless, we’ll be involving management when responding to the issues."
As for the complaints against Willocks, Burke said the board would consult with WAPA’s executive director, Raymond George, who is currently out on medical leave, before taking any action.
"Whatever action the board takes will be based on the recommendation of the executive director," she said. "The safety issues are a priority for the board. I am confident they can be addressed in short order."
Burke said that as far as she is aware, the concerns raised by the St. Croix workers pertain only to that island and have not been raised by their colleagues on St. Thomas or St. John. She said she had been aware of a morale problem on St. Croix for some time, having received numerous complaints.
Burke said the walkout had nothing to do with WAPA's proposed joint venture with Southern Energy.
Carol Burke, chairwoman of the WAPA board, set the record straight on Friday, saying that Willocks was on vacation and had not been axed.
"He’s not been fired or dismissed," Burke said. "He’ll be returning."
The questions surrounding the status of Willocks’ employment stem from a short job walkout staged by WAPA employees on St. Croix on June 9. They were protesting poor working conditions and inadequate training at the Estate Richmond power plant.
In addition, the workers complained of Willocks’ management style, saying it was affecting morale. Willocks, assistant executive director, oversees St. Croix operations for the public utility.
A day after the walkout, representatives of the workers met with WAPA board members and upper management to air their grievances, most of which were directed at Willocks. Burke said the safety concerns and lost production during the walkout spurred the board to get involved in the dispute.
"Some of the issues hadn’t been adequately addressed by management," Burke said. "Nonetheless, we’ll be involving management when responding to the issues."
As for the complaints against Willocks, Burke said the board would consult with WAPA’s executive director, Raymond George, who is currently out on medical leave, before taking any action.
"Whatever action the board takes will be based on the recommendation of the executive director," she said. "The safety issues are a priority for the board. I am confident they can be addressed in short order."
Burke said that as far as she is aware, the concerns raised by the St. Croix workers pertain only to that island and have not been raised by their colleagues on St. Thomas or St. John. She said she had been aware of a morale problem on St. Croix for some time, having received numerous complaints.
Burke said the walkout had nothing to do with WAPA's proposed joint venture with Southern Energy.
V.I.'s SHORTCOMINGS 'IN YOUR FACE'
Dear Source:
I felt compelled to add my two cents to the thought-provoking op-ed submitted by Ms. Catherine Lockhart Mills entitled "IS GRAFT A WAY OF LIFE IN THE V.I.? As one of those former residents of St. Thomas, now residing in Atlanta, Georgia, I must share some information in defense of where I called my home for the past 25 years. My extensive travel and research reveal that the Virgin Islands, like Washington, D.C., Atlanta, Miami, New York, and many other popular locales suffer from similar forms of public corruption brought about by gross mismanagement of financial and human resources.
I have traveled to, and become familiar with conditions on one other U.S. possession, notably Guam. Perhaps the reason why Guam is not as prominently featured with political and socioeconomic chaos is because its development and existence is still primarily focused around their strategically located U.S. naval base, and is not touted as the American Paradise. When you are six thousand miles from the U.S. mainland and on the other side of the international dateline, negatives are not "in your face."
I too, have heard "rumors" of graft and corruption as depicted in the infamous Wall Street Journal article. Yes, people are leaving the V.I. but they don't necessarily escape ineffective government. What they might achieve is indeed a higher quality of life as Mills made reference to. That quality of life to me, does not always have to equate with one's ethnicity, nor their economic or social status. It is merely a closer correlation between the taxes one pays and the services he or she receives in the form of infrastructure maintenance, health care, quality of education, housing, and reasonable protection from criminal acts.
When that changes for the better, as has been done elsewhere, the V.I. will once again live up to its nickname–America's Paradise.
So to my former colleague and friend, I say: Some conditions are universal, it's just that in a smaller arena, there is nowhere to retreat.
John C. Schleifer
Atlanta, Ga.
I felt compelled to add my two cents to the thought-provoking op-ed submitted by Ms. Catherine Lockhart Mills entitled "IS GRAFT A WAY OF LIFE IN THE V.I.? As one of those former residents of St. Thomas, now residing in Atlanta, Georgia, I must share some information in defense of where I called my home for the past 25 years. My extensive travel and research reveal that the Virgin Islands, like Washington, D.C., Atlanta, Miami, New York, and many other popular locales suffer from similar forms of public corruption brought about by gross mismanagement of financial and human resources.
I have traveled to, and become familiar with conditions on one other U.S. possession, notably Guam. Perhaps the reason why Guam is not as prominently featured with political and socioeconomic chaos is because its development and existence is still primarily focused around their strategically located U.S. naval base, and is not touted as the American Paradise. When you are six thousand miles from the U.S. mainland and on the other side of the international dateline, negatives are not "in your face."
I too, have heard "rumors" of graft and corruption as depicted in the infamous Wall Street Journal article. Yes, people are leaving the V.I. but they don't necessarily escape ineffective government. What they might achieve is indeed a higher quality of life as Mills made reference to. That quality of life to me, does not always have to equate with one's ethnicity, nor their economic or social status. It is merely a closer correlation between the taxes one pays and the services he or she receives in the form of infrastructure maintenance, health care, quality of education, housing, and reasonable protection from criminal acts.
When that changes for the better, as has been done elsewhere, the V.I. will once again live up to its nickname–America's Paradise.
So to my former colleague and friend, I say: Some conditions are universal, it's just that in a smaller arena, there is nowhere to retreat.
John C. Schleifer
Atlanta, Ga.
TOURISM PLANS: KEEP OFFICES, AVOID WEB LINKS
Fourth in a series
Rafael Jackson, newly confirmed by the Legislature as commissioner of the Tourism Department, reaffirmed his support for maintaining the territory's six mainland offices last week before leaving St. Thomas for New York, where he planned to look into relocating the office there – possibly to the Empire State Building.
He said his objective was to locate suitable space at "considerably lower rent" than the $101,412 the territory is paying per year for 2,634 square feet in a building next to Radio City Music Hall.
Jackson also told the Source that the Tourism Department is "now in phase one" of getting its Internet web site up and running and that his "in-house web site expert," Jean Hodge, based in the St. Thomas office, was in Atlanta earlier this month "working with IBM, who is developing the information for the web site."
Coordination on the development of the web page is being done out of the Tourism office in Atlanta, Assistant Commissioner Monique Sibilly-Hodge said Friday. That is also where the government's new national advertising agency, Ogilvy & Mather/Atlanta, is based. Ogilvy & Mather is a major agency with worldwide reach, and IBM is one of its largest clients.
Jackson dismissed the figure of $1.5 million ascribed to him earlier in this series as the cost of getting the territory's web site designed and in operation. "At no time did I ever state that the web page would cost $1.5 million," he said. "I have always estimated the cost of the site at around $350,000."
And he reaffirmed his commitment, for now, to maintain all six of the mainland offices – in New York, Washington, Atlanta, Miami, Chicago and Los Angeles – and to hire additional personnel to staff some of them. He said what he told senators at a May 22 meeting of the Agriculture, Economic Development and Consumer Protection Committee on St. Thomas was "that after the web site was up, I would consider phasing out two of them based on their performance. But first I have to be able to give them the tools to do the job. Those tools are bodies, so that someone is in the office and others can be out at shows and contacting travel agents. Give those offices a chance, under my leadership, to turn around."
At the St. Thomas-St. John Hotel and Tourism Association's seventh annual Destination Symposium in April, Jackson announced that Ludwig Harrigan, longtime manager of the L.A. office, would be moving to New York to oversee all of the mainland office operations. However, he told the Source, he has had to change those plans.
"Harrigan has too many roots in California to move to New York City," he said, and he is still looking for someone to take the leadership position on the East Coast.
Office space versus advertising space
The New York Tourism office, which Jackson managed for 19 years, now is located in a 2,634-square-foot space. The expenditure of $101,412 a year for rent has been criticized as unjustifiably high by hoteliers and lawmakers in recent months. Jackson said he expected to work out arrangements to lease space at a "considerably lower rent" and was going to check out space in the Empire State Building and another location across the street from that structure.
The lease on the current space runs through May 31, 2004. However, at the May 22 Senate committee meeting, Jackson noted that there "are ways to get out of leases."
Richard Doumeng, president of the St. Thomas-St. John Hotel and Tourism Association, suggested at that committee meeting that a New York area office could just as well be located in New Jersey, at "one-tenth the rent." The idea doesn't appeal to Jackson. "Only one office ever moved to New Jersey," he said. "That was Aruba, and I don't know what happened to them."
What happened to Aruba, an island of arid, flat terrain and relentless tradewinds blowing sand, is that it emerged in the 1990s as the sleeper of the region, increasing its overnight visitor base to one of the highest among the smaller islands, for two apparent reasons. First, the government and private sector undertook successfully to educate the population about the advantages of ensuring that visitors have a positive experience. Second, the government committed multimillions of dollars to marketing the place.
Last year, Aruba spent more than $21 million to promote the destination, a figure exceeded only by the dominant players in the Caribbean – Puerto Rico, the Bahamas and Jamaica. That compared to half a million for U.S.V.I. advertising, in what was the economically strapped territory's smallest expenditure in many years.
According to Derryle Brown Berger, who has worked for decades with her family's business on St. Thomas, Caribbean Travel, Aruba "is very popular because it's very well done. I think the Virgin Islands has lost a lot of people who had been coming to the islands who switched to Aruba because they got treated better as tourists." Also, she said, "Their prices are a lot more competitive."
The Five-Year Operating and Strategic Financial Plan developed by the Economic Recovery Task Force named by Gov. Charles W. Turnbull last year shows that in 1997, apparently the most recent year for which figures were available, Aruba had 947,000 visitors, while the U.S. Virgin Islands had 2,128,000. The majority of V.I. visitors today are cruise ship day-trippers, however, while most Aruba visitors are overnight guests who pour much more money into the local economy.
Also, tapping into a growing trend and marketing it to advantage, "Aruba has turned into the time-share destination in the Caribbean," Berger said.
The Aruba Tourism Ministry just announced that Delta Air Lines is adding a direct daily flight to the island from Atlanta on July 1 and another from New York in December; US Airways will add one from Philadelphia in November; Continental will fly four times weekly from Newark starting in December; and Air Aruba is starting daily service from Orlando on July 1. Since April, the U.S. Customs Service has been operating a pre-clearance service at the recently renovated Queen Beatrix International Airport.
Jackson noted that most of the territory's competitors for tourist traffic in the Caribbean also have offices on the U.S. mainland – certainly in New York, if nowhere else – as well as in Europe and elsewhere.
Eugene Smith, manager of Villa Blanca on St. Thomas, pointed out that Caribbean islands outside the United States "do not have access to 800 numbers and domestic mail services from their home islands" to reach U.S. markets, and thus "it is necessary for them to maintain these stateside offices." However, in his opinion, "it makes absolutely no sense for the U.S. Virgin Islands to maintain them."
Beyond that, Smith said, his own property has seen no benefits lately from their being in place. "In the last six months of careful record keeping, we have not received one booking from a travel agent," he said. "And in the last year, not one guest has mentioned the offshore offices as a source of their information."
What's selling the small hotel, he said, is its web site, which "went up almost two years ago and now garners 85 per cent of our bookings, tripling our previous occupancy rate."
He noted that he makes it a priority to keep the web links up to date on his site, www.st-thomas.com/villablanca.
Foresight essential for a web site
There are millions of web pages up there in cyberspace, and there are tens of thousands of electronic graphic arts gurus making a living designing and building new ones every day. The neophyte client in search of expertise will be well advised to know precisely what he or she wishes to market and to whom he or she wishes to market it long before, in the case of a client such as the V.I. government, putting out a Request for Proposals.
(Although the talks are under way with IBM, Jackson told the Source, a contract for the company to carry out the design project "has not been finalized.")
Jackson says his vision is to have "a very interactive site." He said, "It will have a lot of data and lists of all the hotels and businesses in the Virgin Islands and have links to travel agents in the area where the call is coming from for them to make their reservations." He added, "It will not be an e-commerce site." Once it's operational, he said he expects to have "two regular employees here in the St. Thomas office to respond to the inquiries and to keep the site updated."
From what he has seen of other Caribbean destinations' marketing outreach via the Internet, Jackson said, "The web site that I'd like to see us emulate is Puerto Rico. They made mistakes, but we're going to correct them." He did not elaborate on the "mistakes."
The official Puerto Rico tourism site is www.prtourism.com. The site includes lists of hotels with telephone numbers. It has no links to the web pages of the hotels or the island's other tourism-related businesses and organizations. It refers inquiries to the offshore offices of the Puerto Rican Tourism Co. The three on-line sites it does link to, including that of the Puerto Rico Hotel and Tourism Association, offer more lists, with telephone numbers and in some cases e-mail addresses.
In contrast, the official tourism sites of the Jamaica Tourism Board at www.jamaicajtravel.com and the British Virgin Islands at www.bviwelcome.com. feature direct links to connect to commercially maintained web sites of hotels and other hospitality businesses. The pages appear to be well-maintained.
Less sophisticated but comprehensive, apparently up to date, and functioning when accessed by the Source are the web sites of Aruba at www.interknowledge.com/aruba, St. Lucia at www.stlucia.org, Trinidad and Tobago at www.visittnt.com, Barbados at www.barbados.org, and the Bahamas at www.bahamas.com.
Web links the way to boost bookings
While resorts in the territory that are a part of chains are marketed mainly through their parent operations, the independently owned and operated hotels, most of them "small" (defined in the industry as having fewer than 50 rooms), can be greatly affected by V.I. government advertising and could benefit tremendously from links to their own web sites.
Sam Boynes, owner of of the small, historic L'Hotel Boynes property on St. Thomas, says he gets 40 percent of his business from his web site. Without such sites, "the small hoteliers would all be bankrupt now, since we are receiving no support from the government tourism office," he said.
Boynes was a hotel manager in Chicago before he moved to St. Thomas and worked at Frenchman's Reef Beach Resort for many years before acquiring the hotel on Blackbeard's Hill that now bears his family name. He said he has known and respected Jackson for many years but feels that the commissioner needs to recognize that times have changed for Virgin Islands tourism, and not only in terms of technology.
"Years ago people came to us," Boynes said. "Now, we have to go looking for them – and meet them on their terms, which for most travelers today is the Internet."
Smith backed that up, saying, "The tech world is evolving so fast that Jackson has to be able to hand over the reins to people who really know their stuff and not base the future on his previous experience."
Todd Hunter, catering manager at St. John's Westin Resort, gave a concrete example of the influence of the Internet as a marketing tool: Known among the Westin staff as "the director of romance," he came aboard three years ago with responsibility, among other things, for marketing the property as a wedding and honeymoon destination. The year before he arrived, there were six weddings at the hotel; in the last year, he said, there have been more than 100. He attributed a lot of that growth to the Westin's web presence.
"Most of the people who are getting married today grew up with computers," he observed. "The Internet comes natural to them. That's where they turn for information."
He noted that the St. John Westin property's web page, accessed through www.westin.com, focuses not only on the property itself but on the island of St. John through its visual appeals. "You look at our pictures of the beach and sunset, and that says it all. What else do you want?"
Boynes's web site, www.hotelboynes.vi, focuses mainly on the unique appeal of the hotel itself. There are interior shots of the individually furnished hotel rooms, the story of Boynes' search for his roots in the Caribbean and France, a brochure to download, music and a video. "All the technology was done right here on St. Thomas," he said. "We don't need to go off island for a good web site design."
In an editorial June 17 commenting on topics addressed in the first three parts of this series, the Virgin Islands Independent and its sister newspaper, the St. Croix Avis, stated that "the real cost of building a world-class web site is well under $100,000 and could be as little as $30,000." A local web site developer consulted on the matter put the figure at what he called a "generous $50,000."
Even to access a web designer of major international stature, however, the Tourism Department need not have expended an inordinate amount of money – or any at all.
According to the Westin's Hunter, the St. John property's web page was designed two years ago by the professional who does "all the Starwood sites." Starwood Hotels and Resorts, one of the largest hotel operating companies in the world, is the parent company of the Westin, Sheraton, W, Four Points and Luxury Collection chains.
"The person who designed the Westin St. John site was willing to do one free for the Tourism Department," Hunter said. He contacted the department, then under the direction of Commissioner Wylie Whisonant, but "they never called him back."
Wednesday: How hoteliers view their partnership with Tourism
Rafael Jackson, newly confirmed by the Legislature as commissioner of the Tourism Department, reaffirmed his support for maintaining the territory's six mainland offices last week before leaving St. Thomas for New York, where he planned to look into relocating the office there – possibly to the Empire State Building.
He said his objective was to locate suitable space at "considerably lower rent" than the $101,412 the territory is paying per year for 2,634 square feet in a building next to Radio City Music Hall.
Jackson also told the Source that the Tourism Department is "now in phase one" of getting its Internet web site up and running and that his "in-house web site expert," Jean Hodge, based in the St. Thomas office, was in Atlanta earlier this month "working with IBM, who is developing the information for the web site."
Coordination on the development of the web page is being done out of the Tourism office in Atlanta, Assistant Commissioner Monique Sibilly-Hodge said Friday. That is also where the government's new national advertising agency, Ogilvy & Mather/Atlanta, is based. Ogilvy & Mather is a major agency with worldwide reach, and IBM is one of its largest clients.
Jackson dismissed the figure of $1.5 million ascribed to him earlier in this series as the cost of getting the territory's web site designed and in operation. "At no time did I ever state that the web page would cost $1.5 million," he said. "I have always estimated the cost of the site at around $350,000."
And he reaffirmed his commitment, for now, to maintain all six of the mainland offices – in New York, Washington, Atlanta, Miami, Chicago and Los Angeles – and to hire additional personnel to staff some of them. He said what he told senators at a May 22 meeting of the Agriculture, Economic Development and Consumer Protection Committee on St. Thomas was "that after the web site was up, I would consider phasing out two of them based on their performance. But first I have to be able to give them the tools to do the job. Those tools are bodies, so that someone is in the office and others can be out at shows and contacting travel agents. Give those offices a chance, under my leadership, to turn around."
At the St. Thomas-St. John Hotel and Tourism Association's seventh annual Destination Symposium in April, Jackson announced that Ludwig Harrigan, longtime manager of the L.A. office, would be moving to New York to oversee all of the mainland office operations. However, he told the Source, he has had to change those plans.
"Harrigan has too many roots in California to move to New York City," he said, and he is still looking for someone to take the leadership position on the East Coast.
Office space versus advertising space
The New York Tourism office, which Jackson managed for 19 years, now is located in a 2,634-square-foot space. The expenditure of $101,412 a year for rent has been criticized as unjustifiably high by hoteliers and lawmakers in recent months. Jackson said he expected to work out arrangements to lease space at a "considerably lower rent" and was going to check out space in the Empire State Building and another location across the street from that structure.
The lease on the current space runs through May 31, 2004. However, at the May 22 Senate committee meeting, Jackson noted that there "are ways to get out of leases."
Richard Doumeng, president of the St. Thomas-St. John Hotel and Tourism Association, suggested at that committee meeting that a New York area office could just as well be located in New Jersey, at "one-tenth the rent." The idea doesn't appeal to Jackson. "Only one office ever moved to New Jersey," he said. "That was Aruba, and I don't know what happened to them."
What happened to Aruba, an island of arid, flat terrain and relentless tradewinds blowing sand, is that it emerged in the 1990s as the sleeper of the region, increasing its overnight visitor base to one of the highest among the smaller islands, for two apparent reasons. First, the government and private sector undertook successfully to educate the population about the advantages of ensuring that visitors have a positive experience. Second, the government committed multimillions of dollars to marketing the place.
Last year, Aruba spent more than $21 million to promote the destination, a figure exceeded only by the dominant players in the Caribbean – Puerto Rico, the Bahamas and Jamaica. That compared to half a million for U.S.V.I. advertising, in what was the economically strapped territory's smallest expenditure in many years.
According to Derryle Brown Berger, who has worked for decades with her family's business on St. Thomas, Caribbean Travel, Aruba "is very popular because it's very well done. I think the Virgin Islands has lost a lot of people who had been coming to the islands who switched to Aruba because they got treated better as tourists." Also, she said, "Their prices are a lot more competitive."
The Five-Year Operating and Strategic Financial Plan developed by the Economic Recovery Task Force named by Gov. Charles W. Turnbull last year shows that in 1997, apparently the most recent year for which figures were available, Aruba had 947,000 visitors, while the U.S. Virgin Islands had 2,128,000. The majority of V.I. visitors today are cruise ship day-trippers, however, while most Aruba visitors are overnight guests who pour much more money into the local economy.
Also, tapping into a growing trend and marketing it to advantage, "Aruba has turned into the time-share destination in the Caribbean," Berger said.
The Aruba Tourism Ministry just announced that Delta Air Lines is adding a direct daily flight to the island from Atlanta on July 1 and another from New York in December; US Airways will add one from Philadelphia in November; Continental will fly four times weekly from Newark starting in December; and Air Aruba is starting daily service from Orlando on July 1. Since April, the U.S. Customs Service has been operating a pre-clearance service at the recently renovated Queen Beatrix International Airport.
Jackson noted that most of the territory's competitors for tourist traffic in the Caribbean also have offices on the U.S. mainland – certainly in New York, if nowhere else – as well as in Europe and elsewhere.
Eugene Smith, manager of Villa Blanca on St. Thomas, pointed out that Caribbean islands outside the United States "do not have access to 800 numbers and domestic mail services from their home islands" to reach U.S. markets, and thus "it is necessary for them to maintain these stateside offices." However, in his opinion, "it makes absolutely no sense for the U.S. Virgin Islands to maintain them."
Beyond that, Smith said, his own property has seen no benefits lately from their being in place. "In the last six months of careful record keeping, we have not received one booking from a travel agent," he said. "And in the last year, not one guest has mentioned the offshore offices as a source of their information."
What's selling the small hotel, he said, is its web site, which "went up almost two years ago and now garners 85 per cent of our bookings, tripling our previous occupancy rate."
He noted that he makes it a priority to keep the web links up to date on his site, www.st-thomas.com/villablanca.
Foresight essential for a web site
There are millions of web pages up there in cyberspace, and there are tens of thousands of electronic graphic arts gurus making a living designing and building new ones every day. The neophyte client in search of expertise will be well advised to know precisely what he or she wishes to market and to whom he or she wishes to market it long before, in the case of a client such as the V.I. government, putting out a Request for Proposals.
(Although the talks are under way with IBM, Jackson told the Source, a contract for the company to carry out the design project "has not been finalized.")
Jackson says his vision is to have "a very interactive site." He said, "It will have a lot of data and lists of all the hotels and businesses in the Virgin Islands and have links to travel agents in the area where the call is coming from for them to make their reservations." He added, "It will not be an e-commerce site." Once it's operational, he said he expects to have "two regular employees here in the St. Thomas office to respond to the inquiries and to keep the site updated."
From what he has seen of other Caribbean destinations' marketing outreach via the Internet, Jackson said, "The web site that I'd like to see us emulate is Puerto Rico. They made mistakes, but we're going to correct them." He did not elaborate on the "mistakes."
The official Puerto Rico tourism site is www.prtourism.com. The site includes lists of hotels with telephone numbers. It has no links to the web pages of the hotels or the island's other tourism-related businesses and organizations. It refers inquiries to the offshore offices of the Puerto Rican Tourism Co. The three on-line sites it does link to, including that of the Puerto Rico Hotel and Tourism Association, offer more lists, with telephone numbers and in some cases e-mail addresses.
In contrast, the official tourism sites of the Jamaica Tourism Board at www.jamaicajtravel.com and the British Virgin Islands at www.bviwelcome.com. feature direct links to connect to commercially maintained web sites of hotels and other hospitality businesses. The pages appear to be well-maintained.
Less sophisticated but comprehensive, apparently up to date, and functioning when accessed by the Source are the web sites of Aruba at www.interknowledge.com/aruba, St. Lucia at www.stlucia.org, Trinidad and Tobago at www.visittnt.com, Barbados at www.barbados.org, and the Bahamas at www.bahamas.com.
Web links the way to boost bookings
While resorts in the territory that are a part of chains are marketed mainly through their parent operations, the independently owned and operated hotels, most of them "small" (defined in the industry as having fewer than 50 rooms), can be greatly affected by V.I. government advertising and could benefit tremendously from links to their own web sites.
Sam Boynes, owner of of the small, historic L'Hotel Boynes property on St. Thomas, says he gets 40 percent of his business from his web site. Without such sites, "the small hoteliers would all be bankrupt now, since we are receiving no support from the government tourism office," he said.
Boynes was a hotel manager in Chicago before he moved to St. Thomas and worked at Frenchman's Reef Beach Resort for many years before acquiring the hotel on Blackbeard's Hill that now bears his family name. He said he has known and respected Jackson for many years but feels that the commissioner needs to recognize that times have changed for Virgin Islands tourism, and not only in terms of technology.
"Years ago people came to us," Boynes said. "Now, we have to go looking for them – and meet them on their terms, which for most travelers today is the Internet."
Smith backed that up, saying, "The tech world is evolving so fast that Jackson has to be able to hand over the reins to people who really know their stuff and not base the future on his previous experience."
Todd Hunter, catering manager at St. John's Westin Resort, gave a concrete example of the influence of the Internet as a marketing tool: Known among the Westin staff as "the director of romance," he came aboard three years ago with responsibility, among other things, for marketing the property as a wedding and honeymoon destination. The year before he arrived, there were six weddings at the hotel; in the last year, he said, there have been more than 100. He attributed a lot of that growth to the Westin's web presence.
"Most of the people who are getting married today grew up with computers," he observed. "The Internet comes natural to them. That's where they turn for information."
He noted that the St. John Westin property's web page, accessed through www.westin.com, focuses not only on the property itself but on the island of St. John through its visual appeals. "You look at our pictures of the beach and sunset, and that says it all. What else do you want?"
Boynes's web site, www.hotelboynes.vi, focuses mainly on the unique appeal of the hotel itself. There are interior shots of the individually furnished hotel rooms, the story of Boynes' search for his roots in the Caribbean and France, a brochure to download, music and a video. "All the technology was done right here on St. Thomas," he said. "We don't need to go off island for a good web site design."
In an editorial June 17 commenting on topics addressed in the first three parts of this series, the Virgin Islands Independent and its sister newspaper, the St. Croix Avis, stated that "the real cost of building a world-class web site is well under $100,000 and could be as little as $30,000." A local web site developer consulted on the matter put the figure at what he called a "generous $50,000."
Even to access a web designer of major international stature, however, the Tourism Department need not have expended an inordinate amount of money – or any at all.
According to the Westin's Hunter, the St. John property's web page was designed two years ago by the professional who does "all the Starwood sites." Starwood Hotels and Resorts, one of the largest hotel operating companies in the world, is the parent company of the Westin, Sheraton, W, Four Points and Luxury Collection chains.
"The person who designed the Westin St. John site was willing to do one free for the Tourism Department," Hunter said. He contacted the department, then under the direction of Commissioner Wylie Whisonant, but "they never called him back."
Wednesday: How hoteliers view their partnership with Tourism
GOOD SAMARITAN KILLED ON EVANS HIGHWAY
A traffic investigation is under way into the death of a would-be good Samaritan, Luis O. Feliz, 52, whose car collided with another on the Melvin Evans Highway Friday night when he made a sudden left turn.
Police said Feliz, driving a 1998 Hyundai Excel, apparently crossed the left lane and struck a Ford Ranger pickup truck. Feliz was attempting to get onto the left shoulder, according to police, to assist a motorist who was stranded there with a flat tire.
The stranded driver was returning with a spare tire when the accident happened, said traffic commander Lt. William Harvey.
He said Feliz was a native of the Dominican Republic who lived in Estate Glynn.
Harvey said the initial investigation showed that alcohol did not play a role in the accident. Speeding tests will be done on the two vehicles involved.
Feliz died at the scene, Harvey said.
Police said Feliz, driving a 1998 Hyundai Excel, apparently crossed the left lane and struck a Ford Ranger pickup truck. Feliz was attempting to get onto the left shoulder, according to police, to assist a motorist who was stranded there with a flat tire.
The stranded driver was returning with a spare tire when the accident happened, said traffic commander Lt. William Harvey.
He said Feliz was a native of the Dominican Republic who lived in Estate Glynn.
Harvey said the initial investigation showed that alcohol did not play a role in the accident. Speeding tests will be done on the two vehicles involved.
Feliz died at the scene, Harvey said.
TROPICAL DEPRESSION DOWNGRADED
The second tropical depression of the Atlantic hurricane season degenerated into a mere westward moving tropical wave Sunday afternoon.
The depression, which formed Saturday about 2,075 miles east-southeast of the southern Windward Islands, had the potential of developing into a named tropical storm. However, cool water in the far eastern tropical Atlantic water prevented further development. At one point Sunday, a stronger-than-normal ridge of high pressure over the Atlantic forced the depression to move on a track south of due west.
According to Weather Channel specialists, if the depression had intensified it would have been the first time in many years that a storm system formed this early in the season, which opened June 1. The season runs through the end of November.
At 5:30 a.m. Monday, the tropical wave, the remnants of Tropical Depression Two, was located about 1,100 miles east of the southern Windward Islands, moving to the west at about 20 to 25 mph. The system shows no signs of redevelopment.
The depression, which formed Saturday about 2,075 miles east-southeast of the southern Windward Islands, had the potential of developing into a named tropical storm. However, cool water in the far eastern tropical Atlantic water prevented further development. At one point Sunday, a stronger-than-normal ridge of high pressure over the Atlantic forced the depression to move on a track south of due west.
According to Weather Channel specialists, if the depression had intensified it would have been the first time in many years that a storm system formed this early in the season, which opened June 1. The season runs through the end of November.
At 5:30 a.m. Monday, the tropical wave, the remnants of Tropical Depression Two, was located about 1,100 miles east of the southern Windward Islands, moving to the west at about 20 to 25 mph. The system shows no signs of redevelopment.
TROPICAL DEPRESSION DOWNGRADED
The second tropical depression of the Atlantic hurricane season degenerated into a mere westward moving tropical wave Sunday afternoon.
The depression, which formed Saturday about 2,075 miles east-southeast of the southern Windward Islands, had the potential of developing into a named tropical storm. However, cool water in the far eastern tropical Atlantic water prevented further development. At one point Sunday, a stronger-than-normal ridge of high pressure over the Atlantic forced the depression to move on a track south of due west.
According to Weather Channel specialists, if the depression had intensified it would have been the first time in many years that a storm system formed this early in the season, which opened June 1. The season runs through the end of November.
At 5:30 a.m. Monday, the tropical wave, the remnants of Tropical Depression Two, was located about 1,100 miles east of the southern Windward Islands, moving to the west at about 20 to 25 mph. The system shows no signs of redevelopment.
The depression, which formed Saturday about 2,075 miles east-southeast of the southern Windward Islands, had the potential of developing into a named tropical storm. However, cool water in the far eastern tropical Atlantic water prevented further development. At one point Sunday, a stronger-than-normal ridge of high pressure over the Atlantic forced the depression to move on a track south of due west.
According to Weather Channel specialists, if the depression had intensified it would have been the first time in many years that a storm system formed this early in the season, which opened June 1. The season runs through the end of November.
At 5:30 a.m. Monday, the tropical wave, the remnants of Tropical Depression Two, was located about 1,100 miles east of the southern Windward Islands, moving to the west at about 20 to 25 mph. The system shows no signs of redevelopment.
CHILDREN'S VILLAGE ADDS BINGO FOR GROWN-UPS
Starting Monday, for the eighth straight year, the St. John Festival – also known as the island's Fourth of July Celebration – will have something neither of the territory's other two carnivals has: a locally organized and operated Children's Village.
The project was conceived and brought into being by the St. John Community Foundation, which continues to be the main mover. This year, foundation executive director Mary Blazine said, two other groups are involved – Pine Peace School and the Family Career Community Leaders of America group at the Julius E. Sprauve School.
The idea came about eight years ago, Blazine said, because in the festival programing at that point, "there was nothing for the children. The carnival village just revolves around drinking and eating and music so loud your ears hurt. We thought it was important to give the children a place to be, with things to do."
Located in the V.I. National Park Visitor Center parking lot under the "tourist corral" tents as well as in the open air, the village is operated as a drug- and alcohol-free environment. It will be open nightly from 6 to 10 p.m. Monday through July 3.
Blazine noted that while the sponsoring organizations will have greeters and overseers on the premises at all times, the Children's Village is not a "baby-sitting" operation, and small children should be accompanied by adult supervisors or older siblings while in the area.
The kids' village this year will feature games of chance and skill such as a wheel of fortune, "strong man" test, bullseye crossbow, basketball toss, balloon darts and ring toss. For the smaller children, Blazine said, "there's a little duck pond where they fish and catch little fish and ducks, and everybody wins a prize."
Cold soft drinks, cotton candy and popcorn will be available, and the Sprauve FCCLA students will be selling chocolate bars as a separate fund-raising project.
The revenues from the tickets sold for the games and refreshments will be divided among the three sponsoring organizations, Blazine said, and the Community Foundation will redistribute its part of the proceeds in the form of "mini-grants to school groups and other youth organizations on St. John throughout the year."
She said the village operation relies on "incredible volunteer work and the many businesses that give us donations." Major sponsors of this year's Children's Village are The West Indian Company Ltd., V.I. Telephone Corp., Caribbean Villas of St. John, AT&T of the Virgin Islands and Baker Magras & Associates.
This year, the undertaking has added an adults-only component. "For the first time, we are having bingo for the adults – for ages 18 and older," Blazine said. The foundation has secured the requisite permit from the Licensing and Consumer Affairs Department, she said, and games will be called continuously during the hours the Children's Village is open.
Also for adults, there'll be a raffle for a donated week's stay at Villa Claudia, a luxury rental property on the island. Raffle tickets, priced at $5, will be available any time the village is open, and the winner will be drawn at the end.
And, oh, yes, the village will feature a clown to entertain the kids. The person behind the funny face and fright wig will be none other than Blazine herself. "I couldn't get anybody else to do it this year," she said cheerfully, "but it's working out perfectly. My outfits are taken care of for a week."
The project was conceived and brought into being by the St. John Community Foundation, which continues to be the main mover. This year, foundation executive director Mary Blazine said, two other groups are involved – Pine Peace School and the Family Career Community Leaders of America group at the Julius E. Sprauve School.
The idea came about eight years ago, Blazine said, because in the festival programing at that point, "there was nothing for the children. The carnival village just revolves around drinking and eating and music so loud your ears hurt. We thought it was important to give the children a place to be, with things to do."
Located in the V.I. National Park Visitor Center parking lot under the "tourist corral" tents as well as in the open air, the village is operated as a drug- and alcohol-free environment. It will be open nightly from 6 to 10 p.m. Monday through July 3.
Blazine noted that while the sponsoring organizations will have greeters and overseers on the premises at all times, the Children's Village is not a "baby-sitting" operation, and small children should be accompanied by adult supervisors or older siblings while in the area.
The kids' village this year will feature games of chance and skill such as a wheel of fortune, "strong man" test, bullseye crossbow, basketball toss, balloon darts and ring toss. For the smaller children, Blazine said, "there's a little duck pond where they fish and catch little fish and ducks, and everybody wins a prize."
Cold soft drinks, cotton candy and popcorn will be available, and the Sprauve FCCLA students will be selling chocolate bars as a separate fund-raising project.
The revenues from the tickets sold for the games and refreshments will be divided among the three sponsoring organizations, Blazine said, and the Community Foundation will redistribute its part of the proceeds in the form of "mini-grants to school groups and other youth organizations on St. John throughout the year."
She said the village operation relies on "incredible volunteer work and the many businesses that give us donations." Major sponsors of this year's Children's Village are The West Indian Company Ltd., V.I. Telephone Corp., Caribbean Villas of St. John, AT&T of the Virgin Islands and Baker Magras & Associates.
This year, the undertaking has added an adults-only component. "For the first time, we are having bingo for the adults – for ages 18 and older," Blazine said. The foundation has secured the requisite permit from the Licensing and Consumer Affairs Department, she said, and games will be called continuously during the hours the Children's Village is open.
Also for adults, there'll be a raffle for a donated week's stay at Villa Claudia, a luxury rental property on the island. Raffle tickets, priced at $5, will be available any time the village is open, and the winner will be drawn at the end.
And, oh, yes, the village will feature a clown to entertain the kids. The person behind the funny face and fright wig will be none other than Blazine herself. "I couldn't get anybody else to do it this year," she said cheerfully, "but it's working out perfectly. My outfits are taken care of for a week."
