TCI News Now!

Early results of tourist visits to historical sites in the Turks and Caicos Islands are off when compared to last year’s banner year. This is the report from site wardens and taxi drivers.

The concerns were repeated in a Provo Chamber of Commerce meeting earlier this month. At the meeting, attendees questioned Governor Ric Todd on how he would address the question of stalled inward investments.

Chamber president Tina Fennimore said, “You have to offer incentives to potential investors. No one is breaking down the doors of the Turks and Caicos; we have to be realistic.”

In responding to complaints about high taxes ruining the struggling economy, the Governor told the audience these tax measures were needed to meet the expenses of the government

In an editorial in the TCI Weekly News, the author blamed the current financial depression on the synthetic boom times of the Michael Misick-led years. Government loans, sales of Crown land, growth of civil service and a climate of easy credit from TCI Bank were responsible for the current downturn. The writer offered little hope for post election reform due to the Progressive National Party (PNP) being tied up in court and the Peoples Democratic Movement (PDM) suffering from poor and elderly leadership.

Despite these early reports, Ralph Higgs, head of the tourist board has predicted a 12 percent increase in arrival figures over last year. Higgs has been promoting the TCI in the Eastern Hemisphere, from whence it is hoped that wide body aircraft will carry hundreds of Euro visitors to the TCI after the international airport on Provo has completed its expansion. Meanwhile, due to economic problems overseas, most European Union countries have suffered a downgrade in credit ratings due to their inability to cope with the financial crisis.

One online medium is reporting that, to solve the public sector loan burden, the interim government plans to sell the international airport to private interests.

Ralph Higgs’ brother, Conrad, who heads the government’s investment agency known as “TCInvest”, is now scheduled to lose his job as the organization closes. TCInvest has been charged with high costs and dormancy. One Grand Turk government source told TCI News Now that Conrad Higgs' salary exceeded that of the Governor.

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