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Head of the St. Vincent and the Grenadines Tourism Authority, Glen Beache speaking at the signing ceremony at Mt Wynne on Tuesday. (Photo: Discover SVG/Facebook)
Head of the St. Vincent and the Grenadines Tourism Authority, Glen Beache speaking at the signing ceremony at Mt Wynne on Tuesday. (Photo: Discover SVG/Facebook)
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Head of the St. Vincent and the Grenadines Tourism Authority, Glen Beache said that in his unbiased view, SVG has “the most diverse product within the Caribbean”.

Unfortunately, a lot of times, Vincentians take this for granted, Beache told a ceremony in Mt. Wynne on Tuesday, where the government signed with Marriott International a deal for management of a state-owned hotel to be built there.

 “A lot of times we hear that there is nothing to do in St. Vincent and the Grenadines. And I want to say it now that it is time for us, Vincentians, to stop saying that,” said Beache, a former tourism minister.

 “Something being done or something to do in St. Vincent does not mean a night club. People visit destinations for different reasons, whether it is the yachting sector, which is our largest niche market, whether it is the diving — we are the only country in the Caribbean that offers both types of diving, whether it is romance, which includes weddings and honeymoons, and if you do want to get divorced here, we will provide that for you, or whether it is adventure tourism, which includes eco-tourism,” Beache said.

He said SVG is a unique destination with lovely people, which is part of the product.

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44 replies on “‘Stop saying there is nothing to do in SVG’ — Beache”

  1. Orlando Alexander says:

    If I must comment on this matter. As a Vincentian myself and knowing what the country was and what it has become, I would love to say that the country has alot of potential and natural resources but what is lacking is people with a vision for our country. I will state some cases below for us all to think about.
    1) we shut down the diamond dairy and importing good from Trinidad.
    2) the sugar factory, where is that? We had a factory now we struggle to keep sugar from going scarce.
    3) every monday we export our raw produce to Trinidad and other islands just to import them again as finish products.
    4) we allow too many foreign investors into the country and cut down the little man from putting food on his family table.
    5) what happened to our banana industry? Did dole swallow it up?
    6) youngsters are struggling to be employed unless they give up their integrity to those who are in higher authority thus destroying the moral of our youths.
    7) the government needs to focus more of what the country has rather that what they think we need.
    8) there are so many of us ex military trained servicemen returning from the uk and USA alike with special training as qualified firefighters and educated enough to uplift the country but we boycott their potential for our own selfish reasons.
    9) we need to impute proper discipline and principles back into our youths and teach them how to honor and respect authority.
    10) last bust not least why on earth send people children on scholarship especially in Cuba and the ambassador representing dont give a dime in assisting these students return home will everything to get a career? These nurses have worked hard to study yet failed the the representation on their government.

    Why dont we invest is better health care and upgrade our hospitals and stop bringing in others to rob our locals in the hotel and hospitality industry?
    When are we going to invest in universities and better schooling thus bringing in revenue into the country.

    What about sports? There are no form of recreational activities for our children and young people. What is the national Olympic committee/ academy is doing to promote our athletes and country thus giving our youths an opportunity to put down crime and pick up a sport.

    To close: we as a country needs a VISION and a voice. Without a vision the people perish.

    1. I second what u say bro… Real talk this… They lack vision all they care about is themselves and not the people… Sad fact…

      1. Al is a political fool! As long as his bowl is full he does not give damn about man or country. Well said Orlando, talk your talk!

    2. I CONCUR. returning vincentians who have what it takes to help uplift OUR country, SHOULD & MUST do so. OUR countey & citizen need us!

    3. what i would like u to do Mr Alexander is do a research on when these things have shut down and all that, who,s fault is it? vincentians have a spoon feed me mentality, they themselves are not visionaries, they do NOT like change, in order for the country to move forward change is needed, not that backward thinking of what we should have done 30 yrs ago, we have now and hopefully tomorrow that,s what we should be focusing on, i am a advocate for change but the vast majority of vincentians from a particular political party stunting that change because of their ignorance and arrogance, they are always with their obnoxious behavior and then complain after that nothing is being done. go out and get, that,s all i gotta say the resources are there, if u cant find a job here they provide means for us to get it in other Caribbean islands. tired of hearing u people complain and not appreciating.

      1. Orlando D Alexander says:

        David. The diamond dairy was where the 1st ever st Vincent airport was located. We used to produce our own box and can juices. Our own milk. It’s the same building that coreas now occupy as a lumber yard just before you meet octogan. They even built a meet house and leave it to rot.

    4. 1) The Diamond dairy closed down because farmers were not producing enough milk for it to continue in operation.
      2) The Sugar Factory closed because of low farm production, and it was losing money.
      3) We do not import them back as a finished product, totally untrue.
      4) There three more times the number of foreigners in SVG when the comrade took over, within a short time they had all fled. They generally employed three Vincentians per foreign family. They bring jobs not take jobs. Many Vincentians are inbred a little fresh blood helps.
      5) The banana industry finally went down the pan because the ULP government failed to spray against Black Sigatoka at the correct intervals and destroyed the industry. Other countries have recovered and have substantial exports again.
      6) The ULP being affiliated and associated with Venezuela and Cuba has caused business investors from overseas to leave and fight shy of such a regime. They felt their investment would not be safe under that kind of socialism. So no industry no jobs, blame Ralph and those who voted ULP.
      7) The government is beyond doing anything substantial to correct the economy. The only way forward is for them to leave and for the ULP to have a go.
      8) Save yourselves, and you will be most useful when this socialist regime changes.
      9) When the head is rotten so is the body.
      10) The ULP send our youngsters to Cuba and Venezuela and Russia so as they can become brainwashed in 21st Century Socialism in the hope they will become revolutionaries. The degrees they obtain in those countries are not accepted anywhere else. I must, however, say Taiwanese training is really good.

      Did you know we have Cuban doctors and Nurses working at the new hospital in Georgetown?

      SVG has become a nation of international scroungers. Selling our votes in the UN.

    5. I must applaud you for seeing what we need it is too overbearing now. This party in power has no vision for others but them self.

  2. Urlan Alexander says:

    If that is the case Mr Beache, why is the encironment not condusive to foster development in tje areas you speak so positive about?
    Then again I understand your frustration. You have to be smart when youre bashing the ULP for the underdevelopment of the SVG tourism sector.

  3. Mr Orlando Alexander am all for what you mentioned, but Mr Beach, what mechanism is in place or put in place to help our young people meet their goals and potentials? Is their a money lending agency set up specifically to assist young entrepreneurs,?
    You cannot dictate to no one how to speak or think, in truth and in fact SVG, has great potentials and excellent resources, that are undeveloped, your government has failed to develop our tourist sectors and has failed the people of SVG, tremendously.

  4. Let me pose a simple question to all of you…………if you wanted to build a house and the bank provided you with the loan plus you got the materials and land ,,,,,,tell me can a house build ITSELF
    success STARTS with our own MINDSET and being SELF-MOTIVATED
    The foreign investors , whether sole proprietor or companies will come in and make use of what we as citizens dont . Just take a good look at every single other Caribbean country and who owns and operate 99% their country’s tourism related businesses and resources . etc. Jamaica, Trinidad , Bahamas , and Barbados

    WE MUST GET OUT OF THIS DARK MINDSET THAT GOV OWES US SOMETHING ….POLITICIANS ARE IN THIS MAINLY FOR THEIR OWN PERSONAL GAINS …..AND SO SHOULD YOU !! THE INFRASTRUCTURES ARE BEING PUT IN PLACE AND ITS UP TO US TO TAKE ADVANTAGE , GOV DONT OWE YOU SH#%T !!!!!!!!!!!

  5. Joanne Rapisarda says:

    Some of you are so far away from the point of what Mr. Glen Beache has to say. Vincentians need to uplift the island and talk about it in a positive way. If we do this maybe we can help attract more tourist to the island. You would be surprise how well word of mouth carries. Remember many islands depend on tourism for the economy.

    1. Orlando D Alexander says:

      Joanne I am not certain how old you are and if you pay close attention to the country. In order to uplift the country we need younger heads and futuristic ideas that our grand children can benefit from and not dig any deeper in political strain.
      As a young man myself I love my country but the truth is the truth. We were called land of the blessed for a reason but the long term democratic manipulation has stifled our country. Politricks will always hinder growth until vicentian abroad will soon be asked for a visa to return home.
      Syrians and Chinese has the highest rate of growing business in st Vincent in proper buildings yet locals on the streets.

      Look at buccumma resort, and ottley hall marina, need I go into details? How much more will we be robbed of our wealth and resources?
      To be honest the only thing that attracts tourists to st Vincent is the pot holes in the roads that we as taxpayers can’t even enjoy and we paying for it.

      1. Chinese and Syrians are Vincentians as are Africans and Portuguese, some of the families have been here for over a 100 years. Because you are a Black man does not mean you are any better or worse than they are. Regardless of racial heritage if someone is willing to work for the betterment of themselves and their families they should be congratulated not used as whipping boys for racial remarks.

        Remember your prime minister Ralph E Gonsalves is a white of Portuguese ancestry, do you begrudge him and his dynastical offspring and members the millions they now earn and own?

      2. Great observation Orlando. Chinese, Syrian and Indian peoples are far more industrious as a comparison to the percentage of how they are represented in the population. There are also far more White business owners compared to thier percentage of the population. Many of those white people are descendants of thier colonial forefathers but not all, such as Kelly Glass. Why is it that the population is about 96% black but they do not even have 70% of the businesses, and most all of the very prosperous businesses are other than black? About 99% of the street vendors are black. I suspect it is more of a cultural thing than anything else. We have upper-class black and white lawyers in government indicating that blacks should just cry and complain and demand handouts and reparations and things will afterwards get better….Where are the leaders that will instead create an environment of hope and opportunity, teach values of prosperity as they did in the first century in the USA, and up to recently where the liberals have taken over and are destroying everything. SVG needs to include proper education and not a mis-directed poorly planned education revolution. All those street vendors clogging the sidewalks making it impossible to walk, are possible future entrepreneurs. I really HATE VENDING but I love the vendors and some of them probably make as much as I do! Can we not see what the present situation is in SVG and use it for our own prosperity? All those unemployed people have the free time to be educated. Train them and drastically lower taxes and Customs charges and paperwork so we can attract investors, lower prices create products at competitive prices and become prosperous. Instead we go the wrong way, raise taxes, make more red-tape etc…and get poorer!

        We make poverty inevitable and prosperity impossible!

  6. I agree totally with #7 and 9 in the article above. Visitors come to the Caribbean for the 3S’s – SUN, SEA and SAND. That’s why there was an issue with the black sand. I notice people from the Windward side visiting Little Bay in Mt. Wynn to picnic and bathe because there are very few places for these actions.
    I am wondering if Little Bay will be included into the Marriott plan.
    That will leave Vincentians with very little room to enjoy the sea and bathing. The only other place with a half-arse beach is Layou and the place is a mess with those stone quarries destroying the environment.
    Many of the youths and children are exposed to the dust from these quarries and many suffer from asthma. Maybe Louis can finally do something for his home town and get his government to stop these quarries from destroying the town, roads and the beach. I know he thinks his legacy is the burial ground, but that’s only for the dead and the quarries is the culprit that sends many folks there.

  7. Do also bare in mind that its not only locals who say SVG has nothing to do, what about the many foreigners that say the exact same phrase?

    I had an african friend who went to Barbados for the first time from SVG. And, he ask a bajan friend of mine dwelling here, WHY ARE YOU LIVING IN SVG? Need I say more?

    1. @SMITH: please tell your ungrateful African friend not to ‘set foot’ back in st Vincent. If he/she goes to the Cayman Islands, will the question then be: WHY ARE YOU LIVING IN BARBADOS?

  8. Andrea Barnwell says:

    Everything he says is a pipe dream until he produces the finished product so that people can benifit. The tourism packages for marriage or divorce , begins with capital investment. Young people don’t even have bus fare for the first meetings to make them marketable. Come on now , the speaker is victimizing young people all over again by calling them lazy and without a vision. They are already victims of unemployment and hardship.Dont add guilt to their predicament

  9. There is nothing to do in SVG There is nothing to do in SVG There is nothing to do in SVG There is nothing to do in SVG There is nothing to do in SVG There is nothing to do in SVG There is nothing to do in SVG There is nothing to do in SVG There is nothing to do in SVG There is nothing to do in SVG There is nothing to do in SVG

    That’s why your so often clubbing elsewhere.

  10. I’m a vincentian who’s parents left and brought me to tge UK decades ago to be educated. When i returned with my children in 2000 i wanted to show off my island, but at that time there was little worthy organised tourism.

    We went to Forte, the displays were sparse. There was a holding cell were prisoners were kept, but it was just an empty room. No educational video to inform them of what escaping slaves would have experienced.

    There was a display of artefacts from archaeological digs, but no replica’s on sale, and no guide to describe and bring history to life.

    Even in Botanical gardens we were disappointed. We, travel to mountain villages, but the history of most of these places had being lost. However, the hospitality of the villagers was amazingly warm.

    When we looked inwards at the forests we were enthralled, but there was little to encouage or inform us about the forest composition and wild-life.

    St Vincent does have a lot to offer, but the leaders are not looking at the island through the eyes of tourist, neither do they understand the Island through the pocket of the Treasury.

    If as is said SVG has much to offer the leaders and politicians would do more to promote its unspoilt nature and restore more of it manufacturing plants as example for tourist to understand what made SVG one of the strongest economies in the eastern caribbean isles.

  11. My parents are from st.vincent and I go there every year although i was born in UK but what Orlando is saying he is right and u have the Chinese people have business serve your own before u serve them..they will take over St.v when they ready they want to control us…government need to fix up…help Vinci 1st

  12. Benjamin Telemaque says:

    I am from Canouan island, but lives in New York, just to comment on Mr Alexander remarks regarding banana Industry. It’s a dead issue we can not compete with dole or chiquita. In Central America the banana leaves the plantation in containers so they are well protected and ready to be shipped. When a customer walks into a supermarket in the US, they are not going to buy a banana that’s bruised. So please call the undertaker regarding the banana.
    My second point is why are we looking to the Govt for our economy expansion?. They are considerable amount of vincentians that has control of wealth, maybe, just maybe instead of hiding it in the bank, we learn the art of investing and thus create the multiplier effect of a dollar.

  13. It seems that if a government were intrested in furthering tourism, it might “consider” using existing campuses such as that in Buccament. As that might entail money out of pockets rather than into pockets, this seems unlikely.

    Me thinks me smells a turd being laid upon the heads of the citizenry!

  14. Wow.. a diversity of valid opinions…can’t say i’ve heard this before in a public forum..i will speak my true piece soon enough..until then I applaud you all for taking the time…

  15. Why we should stoping it? It is the truth there’s nothing to do in SVG, the children finish college and nothing to do they sending applications all over the place and they still not getting through with nothing. They become frustrated because is who you know and who knows you .I DONE

  16. I must say about 25 years ago you could have tell people who were educated but today you can not.It seems to me people are loosing focus and their ndependence.I don’t want to be political because I don’t know much about ULP .The country looks ok and seems to be on some development for the better in terms of physical structure.But if you loose the young people you can not progress.They go away to study abroad but no jobs when they return.what happen to sports for the young people and how about a modernised sport arena.more have to be done for vincentian living at home.

  17. Mica country Montreal, Quebec Canada says:

    Glen pocket filed with $$$$$$$$$. Indeed i agree SVG has potentials however what the ulp government is doing to uplift the pple of svg.?.They are nothing more than a bunch of selfish bastards thinking about their own self interests.

  18. The current administration as done a good job up to this point but there is only so far one group can take u if your really on the programme of progression.
    The roads improved and the new airport is achievement that shouldn’t be under estimated but its only a start in the right direction.
    Town needs serious investment and it must come from a fresh and new generation of leadership and all government spending and profits must be reinvested back into the country
    St Vincent needs a night life to attract more money, industry untapped
    No sending out anything that can be made and produced in house
    Every raw natural resource must be used and put to work.
    No outside investment must conflict with domestic income unless it works for the people.
    Im from the uk and have my own family i would like to take there but its no point me taking them and they say its dead especially when my wife from Barbados and Jamaica where they both have day and night life as well as various options
    Its foolish as st Vincent has so call main land and 32 islands so we must be able to make something work for everyone surely

  19. B Sc. Sociology with a minor in International Relations says:

    Glen is not appealing to the rational minds of vincentians…sounds like a demagogue to me…his rhetoric is off….he is not saying how tourism can achieve sustainability so the locals can benefit….Lord help us all!

  20. B Sc. Sociology with a minor in International Relations says:

    when are vincentians gonna stopbeing dupedby these people? rolling my eyes…

  21. The truth of the matter is that the black emancipated slaves had more get up and go than black Vincentians have today. Within 25 years of emancipation they had established free villages and were farming their own provision land. They had no hang ups about being ex slaves, mental or physical. Yet today people cannot feed themselves are backwards regarding earning an entrepreneurial living and then begrudge other races that take up the gauntlet and are able to provide for and feed their families.

    I actually blame the continual bombardment by all these nasty pull down socialist politicians that keep telling the Black people they are mentally damaged because their ancestors were slaves. It really is time for the black man to get control of themselves and dump people like Ralph Gonsalves and Jomo Thomas who are damaging and have damaged todays population of Black youth. In 20 years they have failed to provide the conditions that would ensure there were jobs for fall.

    If you keep telling someone he is stupid, eventually he will behave stupidly or give you a deserved thrashing.

    We are not suffering from post ancestral slavery, we are not stupid, and we should no longer tolerate the people that have convinced us we are in the name or reparations. Does anyone actually believe if there was the right to reparations and they were paid, that we would see a cent of it? Think about it, think hard, do you think we would get any of it?

  22. I’ll bet that many people in different places of the world say that there is “nothing to do”. Where they live. Anyone who is creative can find something to do. Even people in prison find things to do. I have never seen clubs and movie theaters in prisons. For locals, our library is not so great compared to what I an used to but at least there is one. For tourists there is plenty of the usual lay on the beach and go swimming in the Grenadines. Yachting, hiking. etc…Most people from the North want to see palm trees and feel the sun as well as just lay on the beach.
    One real problem is that in SVG you do not get much “bang for your buck”. Tourists have told me that SVG is more expensive and lesser quality than most of the other Caribbean destinations. Very many have told me they will never come back here for that reason. We have beautiful scenery and the people are mostly friendly, except the usual rape, murder and mass theft from tourists that we often have. We should encourage the government to STOP thier MAD increases of taxes to drive all the prices up. Recently they came up with the “Climate Change” room tax. That and all the other exploitive taxes are also a form of theft. Why should people get less and have to pay more for it. If anyone wants to do that, it is up to them but most people will not return to SVG or tell thier friends good things about it if that is the case. I do not believe the revenue is well managed in SVG. It seems the government prioritizes (for those at the top) thier own luxury lifestyle and mis-directs funds that should instead be used for roads, schools and projects that build the nation and not just using the funds to make them “look good” for elections (building supplies) and maintain thier Entertainment Allowance and such.
    It seems that under socialism the leaders seem to live better than those under other systems although thier people are far worse-off.

  23. Duke here is mud in the eye for the Gonsalves family, Jomo and their ULP bunch jokers, yet most Vincentians may never have the opportunity to either invest in their own labour or in local dollars!
    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s9ovOwl5Cns

    Bill Gates, Charlie Munger and “The Sage of Omaha” has a little to say as to why Capitalism works in an advanced society, over and above “sky high taxes” and the “international begging” syndrome as adapted by our existing family run administration.

    Such “sky high taxes” as is being imposed upon us and the “international begging” syndrome that is employed by them, does not in any way allow for Vincentians to even get off the ground and make even just a little start, so as to unleash any human potential that we may have.

    And is this not a dastardly crying shame eh JOLLY GREEN, to be so sadly shackled and weighted down this way by a backward family run dictatorship aided by their ideological supporters?

    1. James they have to apply the shackles to the Vincentians, if not physical shackles, certainly mental ones. Without instruments of dynastical constraints on the people they would have no slave pool to do their bidding.

      Without the shackles of mental slavery they would have no plantation, their ownership of the state would dwindle and they would become ordinary people in a sea of black intelligentsia. So to keep the people mentally enslaved they brain wash them into believing they are all mentally ill, even mentally retarded, due to their ancestors being slaves.

      Then they fool them into believing that the past enslaving countries will pay all the people magnitudal amounts of money. People follow them believing that the money at some time will flow and make every black man of slave ancestry rich. The whole thing is a sham and will never happen, and they very well know it will never happen.

      Even some very intelligent black Vincentians have been sucked into this mountain of nonsensical tripe. Take for instance Jomo Thomas who continually bangs away with the brain damaging rhetoric. He must know its nonsense he is an intelligent educated man. Perhaps he also is shackled by the dynasty, he certainly profits by bidding their calling.

    2. Thank You James. I grew up in the area where Bill Gates is from. My cousin used to know him as well as the founders of Starbucks. I knew people that have products in shops in SVG. I could mention more but the point is that most of these people became prosperous because of the way they think and the financial environment they operate in. This include Jeff Bezos (the world’s wealthiest man).
      I have to stress that SVG can be vastly more wealthy and a main reason why the country is held-back is because we have a bad financial environment. Apparently the Government does not see this and apparently does not know how to change that no matter what many of us suggest. We cannot become prosperous with a Socialist Services Economy such as Germany has benefitted from. The government seems to believe in the socialist philosophy that the more money they take from the people in taxes and Customs Duties, the more good they can do and the better off the country will become. How has that worked for SVG so far? Most people on Earth are now brainwashed into believing some form of Socialism, with “free stuff” is better. We have in SVG Socialism where the government is to sole beneficiary and the only “free stuff” is handed out at election years….Meanwhile….Singapore has the wealthiest population on Earth, about the best Socialist benefits, the highest paid leader on Earth, the best schools, hospitals, lowest corruption, lowest crime, strongest banks in the world,(to include huge gold reserves!), etc… All this with almost zero natural resources! It is called Supply-Side Economics, integral to what was called the “American Dream”. The USA instituted this economics before 1800. Keynesian Socialism is more Demand-Side, (based on debt and borrowing) and only brought eventual poverty wherever it has been applied, to include SVG, and coming soon to th USA when the entire world loses confidence and discovers the US Dollar is backed only by a war machine and over 20 TRILLION in debt!

  24. Over half of the commentaries here are written by the same person, which makes the whole bunch of comments less believable.

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