There will soon be a massive redevelopment of the Cable Beach Strip as a part of an overall planned improvement of the country’s tourism product, Director General of Tourism Vincent Vanderpool-Wallace revealed yesterday.
Mr. Vanderpool-Wallace, who was addressing a special workshop at Sandals Royal Bahamian Resort, indicated that discussions are underway among the relevant officials to revitalize and revamp the area.
The redevelopment will include street realignment, enlarging hotel entrances and creating longer driveways to the individual properties.
The Cable Beach Strip is one of the island’s key areas for tourism activities with the various properties continuing to pump thousands of dollars into ensuring the upkeep of the area.
Mr. Vanderpool-Wallace also said yesterday that there is a need to establish a proper training and development programme for workers in the hospitality industry.
“It has no value for us to grow individually and independently if we don’t have the growth that we need to make it happen,” Mr. Vanderpool-Wallace said. “But beyond that, there is no reason why, if we decided tomorrow that we are going to have something called the Bahamas Tourism Training Centre that no one can enter the tourism industry until and unless [he or she goes] through a certain basic kind of programme. The tourism industry would be better,” he said. The programme, he said, would improve tourism performance.
“I’ve always believed that there is no law that says the Tourism Training Centre has to be at a particular location,” he said.
Mr. Vanderpool-Wallace suggested that senior managers within the tourism industry transfer their knowledge of the business to others.
He added that the Ministry of Tourism will soon implement a training channel on cable television to ensure effective and efficient service in the tourism industry.
Yvette Rolle-Major, The Bahama Journal
