Above: Antigua

By the Caribbean Journal staff

Antigua and Barbuda’s newest tourism push isn’t just targeting foreign visitors: it’s targeted toward the local population.

The country’s new video, “Pieces of the Tourism Puzzle,” attempts to bring the message of tourism and its benefits to the local population.

“Tourism is the islands’ leading industry and generates 75 percent of GDP; every dollar spent by a visitor is a dollar that goes directly into Antigua & Barbuda and stimulates our economy and benefits our people,” said Colin James, CEO of the Antigua and Barbuda Tourism Authority. “To continue to grow our economy, we all have to be actively involved in the positive messages and the experience that we give to visitors to our shores.”

The video, featuring Antiguan soca artist Tian Winter, seems a part of Antigua’s wider push towards a more engaged tourism product.

“From the forest to the beach, from the smallest child to each and every citizen, tourism affects us all — it brings us the foreign exchange we need to fuel this country,” the video’s narrator says. “We’re all parts of the tourism puzzle.”

Antigua has been at the forefront of the sustainable tourism movement in the Caribbean, and is currently working on a Sustainable Tourism Development Plan.

“The global tourism industry is very competitive and in order to encourage increased visitor arrivals, every citizen has to recognize that he/she plays a critical part in showcasing and promoting the islands of Antigua & Barbuda,” said Tourism Minister John Maginley. “Our people and our product are two of the main reasons that persons choose to come to our islands; this is our home and we all play a part in promoting the best of what Antigua & Barbuda has to offer.”