Providenciales, TCI, June 6, 2016 – Ideas to remedy country concerns were coming from the leader of the People’s Democratic Movement, Sharlene Robinson, who on Friday held a street side press conference about the illegal jitneys, the Turks and Caicos drop in tourism standings, the resignation of the Director of Public Prosecutions and what to do about undocumented Villa rentals.
Hon Robinson said jitneys need to be legalized for new revenue and with set standards until public buses can be introduced; she said the Governor and Integrity Commission must ensure that those accused of unprofessionalism by the exited John Masters, former DPP are vindicated publicly and she said beach harassment must be taken more seriously. “We do support more policing of the beach, but the underlying issue is that there are a group of people that just want to earn a living. They all want the same thing, they all want to make something out of the tourism industry. I know for a fact that there have been individuals that have been illegally operating; we have reached out to them. At the end of the day, it is for a class to be provided. Business licensing is high, work permits is high, government have to understand then, if I don’t find a way to allow these persons to operate legally and to build some sort of place for them to be and to regulate them, then this is what’s going to happen when everybody is actually after the same thing.”
Regulation of villa rentals for the better security of guests and a new stream of country revenue were also recommended by the leader of the PDM, who shared that her team has recently met with executives of the Turks and Caicos Hotel & Tourism Association. “But that is a quick fix in terms of looking at how we can best deal with villas, regulate them, know where they are, ensure that these people put security in places because they are in some secluded areas. And then you have to make the guest aware, sometimes tourist come and we market Turks and Caicos as being totally safe, and it’s a wonderful thing to do, but are we misleading, are we misrepresenting. We can’t allow any more of our tourist to allow their guards to be down, we have to say be alert, but it is still one of the safest places in the world.”
