Tourism has been highlighted as a pillar of the Virgin Islands economy. Despite this, local agencies continue to fall short in capturing comprehensive data on revenue generated by the industry.
This issue recently came to the forefront again during discussions in the House of Assembly.
Premier Hon. Dr. Natalio Wheatley lamented the lack of revenue data in response to a question from Member for District 2 Hon. Melvin Turnbull.
In the exchange, the Premier acknowledged the ongoing lack of comprehensive revenue reporting from tourism.
His response disappointed Turnbull, who had originally asked the same question six months prior and noted that there has been no progress in that time.
Wheatley stated that he has engaged personnel in the Ministry of Finance to begin gathering and compiling the relevant tourism revenue data on each island.
In thanking the Premier for his response, Turnbull underscored the value of this information for data-driven decision making.
