KINGSTOWN, St. Vincent, CMC – Opposition Leader Godwin Friday has suggested that the government give sailors temporary residence to attract more sailors to the country.
He said the Grenadines is world-famous among sailors, but the destination has lost much ground over the last 15 years.
During the Budget debate, he said the country must believe it can recover the lost ground and its leadership role in the yachting sector in the Organisation of Eastern Caribbean States (OECS).
Friday urged the government to think of innovative programs that can be used to attract yachts to the country and to get them to stay longer.
“Don’t treat them as somehow they’re suspicious people that you have to try and get rid of when the six weeks are up and the immigration permit or whatever it expires — they have to go out of the country and come back and so forth,” he said, adding that when yachts leave, they might not return but might travel to another Caribbean island.
Friday suggested that yachts “of a certain net worth be granted temporary residence to stay in St. Vincent on their boat, and they come here and can use this as their base.”
“I could think of places like Wallilabou, Cumberland, Port Elizabeth, Mayreau, Union Island, and so forth,” he said.
“That is a way to get them to think of us differently, not just as a place you stop, but this is home as well.”
Adding that those yachts would use SVG for provisioning and meetups, the Opposition Leader told Parliament: “This is their home away from home, but they live on their boats, and these are people who are retired, have some income; they’re not coming here to take anything from anybody.”
He said that the country would benefit from the spending these yachties do, adding that for such a program to work, security must be in place.
He said that in this way, the country would rid itself of “some of those vibes that you used to get when the government introduced and triple the fees on yachts or when you hear stories of yacht invasions that take place, people boarding yachts and robbing people.”
Last month, Friday told Parliament there had been a spate of yacht break-ins in Admiralty Bay, Bequia, resulting in bad publicity for SVG as a destination among yacht travelers.
Meanwhile, he also suggested that the government invest in building more marinas as those facilities attract boats.
“In Grenada, they have . . . must be nine, 10, 11,” he said.
“You have to talk to one of the guys who operate boats around here, and they’ll tell you the difference in the attitude and the services and the vibe and the activity and so on that you see going on in Grenada, St. Lucia as compared to what’s happening here in St. Vincent. So, let’s get with the program. Those are two ideas that maybe will make it into the Estimates and the Budget next year.”
Pointing out that SVG was once far ahead of Antigua, St. Lucia, and Grenada as a sailing destination but had now fallen behind, Friday said the country had to devise and execute a plan to regain lost ground.
He lamented that nothing to that effect was in the EC$1.4 billion (US$1 = EC$0.37) budget for 2023.
“You can’t just simply wish that it would happen,” he said, noting that in 2002, one year after coming to office, the Unity Labour Party government dramatically increased the fees on yachts coming into the country.
“That had a terrible effect. A lot of yachts stayed away,” Friday said. “They felt the fees were being paid, but no services would be provided in return. There was no security….”
The Opposition Leader said there were many ways to make money from the yachting sector, including providing food and drink, fruit and vegetables, ice, laundry services, and sail repairs.
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