From St Helena

Vince Thompson, Director of the National Trust of St Helena, has got very strong views on tourism.  Whilst not wishing to get involved in the politics of the island, I thought it would be a good idea (with his permission of course) to publish an email which he sent me over the weekend.   Personally I've always been ad advocate of the "quality not quantity" argument and I therefore agree with what follows.

Today [28^th March] two related things started to happen.  First, the Island’s Director of Tourism relayed to members of the St Helena’s Tourism Advisory Committee some information from the Dept. for International Development.  Put briefly, the ‘Destination Development and Marketing Plan for St Helena’ is required now by UK ministers – before the newly appointed and ‘high-powered’ Tourism Commissioner even sets foot on the St Helena.  This situation has all the familiar ingredients of rush, panic and a botched job – a recipe for a waste of time and a waste of money.  Building St Helena’s new airport in relatively easy, in comparison to selling the Island to the ‘right kind of tourist’ and getting St Helena’s  fledgling tourism economy off the ground.

This brings me to the second thing.  Two ships arrived in the harbour yesterday morning; the Antarctic research ship ‘Sir Ernest Shackleton’ and the National Geographic ‘Endeavour’.  The ‘Shackleton’ had only crew and the ‘Endeavour’ about forty passengers.  Despite the low numbers, the crew and passengers from these two ships showed far more interest in St Helena’s natural and built environment and the Island’s history than some of the cruise liners that make a one day call here.  Towards mid-afternoon, the ships visitors came in and out of the National Trust office in droves asking questions, seeking information sources and buying books and photographs. 

A couple of weeks ago, a ‘normal’ cruise liner called at St Helena for a day and about 400 passengers landed at the wharf for a one day visit.  Unfortunately, most passengers on that day did not appear to know where they were in the world.  If the Island had not been on the cruise itinerary, many of its passengers would have very happily have remained blissfully ignorant.

The crux of a ‘Destination Development and Marketing Plan for St Helena’ is effective communication with the specialist tour operators and a particular and special kind of ‘tourist’ – I prefer to use the word ‘visitor’.   St Helena wants to conserve its individuality and way of life.  This is accepted by the

UK

and St Helena Governments.  I just hope the new Tourism Commissioner accepts this too and realises what work has to be done – not just to market the Island successfully, but to attract visitors who know the difference between

San Francisco

Bay

and St Helena’s

Sandy

Bay

.  This is officially termed ‘low volume-high value’ tourism.

In a phrase, St Helena needs as many visitors from tour operators like Island Holidays Plus as the Island receives from the ‘floating holiday camps’.

By the way, the chap who did so much research on the critically endangered Wirebird and who wrote the guide to The Birds of Ascension and St Helena, Dr Neil McCulloch, is leading our next visit to the island in October and we still have space available.  I decided to use a picture of the Wirebird in this blog rather than of Neil - hope he agrees!