St. John’s, Antigua – Antigua’s Minister of Tourism Harold Lovell, has said that “for tourism to succeed in Antigua and Barbuda we as a people need to embrace the notion of global competitiveness. We need to make a meaningful financial investment in our human resources, our product development and our marketing efforts.”
He made these remarks during a recent gala ceremony held to mark the 40th Anniversary of Airport Services Antigua (ASA).
In his address, Lovell commended the Organization for its work, noting that they are a fine example of what it takes to be competitive and successful in the global environment.
He said the ASA story, which is one of vision, leadership, teamwork and service excellence, has some important lessons for us.
“Our challenge at this juncture is to make our tourism industry as successful as ASA has been as a Corporate Service Provider.”
The Tourism Minister remarked that one of their key success factors is the strong brand that they have built, which gives them a competitive advantage over others.
“Antigua and Barbuda, positions itself as a mid-to up market destination, featuring safety and security, beaches, tranquility, romance, history, culture and entertainment. We too need to guard and protect our brand as our most important asset”, he said.
He also stressed the need for persons in all sectors, to collaborate and make a commitment to the delivering of high performance standards, for the betterment of the industry.
“As we celebrate our 27th year of Independence, the achievements of this corporate citizen remind us that when we work together as a team with a clear vision, success is the natural and inevitable result.
Over its 40 year period, ASA has provided ground handling services to British Airways, BMI, Condor, Caribbean Airlines, USAir, Skyservice (Canada), Livingston Spa (Italy) First Choice (London) and Thompsonfly.
