Eli Fuller Accepts PM’s Invitation to Join Point FM Discussion on Local Ownership in Tourism
ST. JOHN’S, Antigua — Tourism stakeholder Eli Fuller has accepted Prime Minister Gaston Browne’s public invitation to join him on Point FM this Saturday for a discussion on expanding local ownership and better integrating Antigua and Barbuda’s cultural assets into the tourism product.
The prime minister issued the open invitation earlier this week, inviting Fuller and others to discuss “strategies and programs to expand ownership and better integrate our cultural assets into our tourism product.”
In a response posted online, Fuller said he “eagerly accepted almost immediately,” adding that he hopes the discussion will clearly explain long-standing structural challenges facing locals in the tourism sector.
“Local people are at a competitive disadvantage when it comes to investment in many sectors of tourism,” Fuller wrote, arguing that “it is easier for foreigners to invest in tourism and start tourism related businesses than it is for our own citizens.”
Fuller said the issue is not new, noting that he raised similar concerns years ago during a tourism conference with former opposition leader Harold Lovell. While welcoming the prime minister’s engagement on the matter, he cautioned that discussion must lead to concrete outcomes.
“I’m very excited that Gaston Browne is talking the talk but I’ve heard other ministers talk that talk before. We need more than talk,” Fuller said.
He added that he hopes the radio discussion will allow experienced tourism professionals to share practical insights with the public. “Information that many excursion operators and lifelong tourism professionals like myself have can be shared to give people a better understanding of the strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats that exist in tourism,” he said.
The upcoming programme is expected to focus on access to capital, policy barriers, and opportunities to strengthen local participation across the tourism value chain, a sector that remains central to Antigua and Barbuda’s economy.
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The money or lack thereof, can change ones perspective of self… even though for some it took over 30 years.
Locals need to learn how to build partnerships to invest in their own country. It’s not gonna come to them. They have to put in the work to realize a better and brighter tomorrow. Stop complaining and begin to commit to something tangible.
It is absolutely amazing that now at the 11th hour & I believe year, that all of a sudden Gaston is “open” to suggestions from the losers who voted him in!!! Where was the dialogue & consultations previously? CIP no discussion, Vaccine No Discussion. Now we having town halls and open invitations to discuss…..what has changed overnight??
I like Eli but he knows that money talks and everything else walks… I’d be interested to listen to his concerns about this. Doesn’t his family still own the Lord Nelson?
Dave ,can you please commit to a gender . Always running your mouth . Just going along to get along. Election close so all of a sudden they want to act as if they really care about poor people. Inflation killing us for years , bad roads ,poor internet service ,poor health care ,while nepotism is all in our faces. Antiguans ,stop let politicians and their minions fool are you.
In my opinion,this mattter should be discussed on ABS TV. I have never listened to that station owned by GASMAN BROWNE.
@Dave Ray as the director of diaspora affairs have your team established any social media platforms where [locals] and their descendants can understand, what exactly is your department/agency mission?
If you have, you can always write a press release to ANR – Antigua Newsroom and copy it, to all of the other forums which Antiguans & Barbudans are blogging in. One would want to believe, that as a part of your agency/department mission would be, yo become the cohesive mechanism which holds all things in place for the [locals], in the diaspora.
I can still pull a few emails from our correspondence in 3013/14 when, allegedly you held a similar position or was that just the [title] for hobnobbing?
Jumbee_Picknee aka Ras Smood
De’ole Dutty Peg 🦶🏿 Garrat_Bastard
Vere Edwards
@Ras Smood… your fingers must hit the right key 2013/14…yo, how tge hell did you get to 3013, unless you’re a Jumbee that “wheel and come again!
Just correcting my faux pas or is it foh pah…I know how emotional us #garrats can get!! Yo!
Jumbee_Picknee aka Ras Smood
De’ole Dutty Peg🦶🏿Garrat_Bastard
Vere Edwards
@dave ray, he knows locals need to put in money and invest, why didn’t Gaston give you a chance to have shares in PLH and the other white empowerment, just looks like Gaston has set your boundaries as a fanatic barking to protect his family peer empire even though you get a bone of course as reward.
Eli Fuller only speaks out, via his massive know-it-all
ego when it is an issue that affects him personally and his business. We saw this clearly during covid. Now he is attacking the Jolly Harbour development because he lives there and this development will probably now make him a little fish in a big ocean.
He was born with a gold spoon in his mouth, money made off the backs of poor people. He is spoilt and becomes petulant when things do not go his way. He claims to love this country and the environment but has stopped speaking to his uncle Dr. Fuller, since he started charging a small for use of the Fuller owned Bird Island, even though that fee is for garbage collection and to keep the place clean and tidy. Eli Fuller is all for self and I hope the PM exposes him and put him in his place.
@Truth Seeker .
Wow. Well mouth open and story jump out. Where’s my popcorn!
That Disaspora Crap,belongs at Cooks Dump like those Tablets did.A WAY COMRADE MICHAEL BROWNE GARNE? DID HE GET THOSE DOUBLE DOCTOR DEGREES?
Back to the topic of local investment into hotels so that we don’t have foreigners buying up all the waterfront property, I have a vision! A vision of a cute little Antiguan village made like a patchwork quilt for tourists to come and stay inexpensively for three months. Each Antiguan owned patch of a quarter acre is a homestead looking place where the fence is wild tamarind stalks, and the wooden shack with galvanize roof is shaded by a mango tree. And the hurricane lantern hangs from a nail on the porch on the east side maybe a flambeau for the tourists’ arrival to make it festive. The Seaview farm coal pot is outside cooking ital all ready for dinner in an hour, and some Cavalier Rum is on the kitchenette counter ready to make rum punch when the guests arrive from Airbnb.The counter top is just untreated pine board cleaned with sand between each guest all fresh and nice. A half size fridge fits under the homemade kitchen shelves. There is a tiny sink and a single burner stove, that’s all for cooking.
It’s a tiny room inside basically a studio apartment” in size with a queen sized double bed dead center with bedside tables on each side. The homemade mosquito net is tied back to make the bed look inviting. The white cotton sheets are old and soft but spotless from years of bleaching. The madras throw cushions and the table cloth match. The windows have home made shutters but the west side has awning windows so you can leave the open if it rains. And the galvanized roof sings pling pling pling and the tree frogs join in merry from under the bougainvillea and the spinach vine twining the veranda posts.
Each house is a tiny small holding farm with paw paw, passion fruit and shady everywhere except the small patch where they can park a rental car. The bathroom is on top of the septic tank tiled in smooth stones and the shower is out side surrounded by packing crate in a simple but functional style.
Not every hotel room needs to be casted concrete. The live-in-a-garden style way that people lived in the 1980’s is ample. Not every hotel room needs marble. Airbnb is looking for “less expensive places like a tree house” or a container converted but in an artistic way taking what we have to make a cozy getaway.
Well it’s a dream I envisioned that could be affordable if each investor got a small patch. It’s ok if all you can afford is a 16 th of an acre. You can make a lean to with a mosquito net and a gallery made with an old sail. And it has potted plants for privacy.
It’s just a dream I had of each one making his own like a village with regulations about noise levels but you can walk to the beach bar and dance to the boom boom!
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