Chairperson David Duberry of the St. Patrick’s (Day/week celebrations) Committee is calling on vendors, merchants and entrepreneurs to be ready “to capitalise on the projected visitor arrivals” to Montserrat for the 2018 celebrations
He says they are anticipating a record number of visitors to the islands shores for the 2018 250th anniversary of the 1768 event. In a news report he reported that hundreds of persons from Guadeloupe, Antigua, St. Kitts and Nevis are due to converge on the island on St Patrick’s Day March 17th.
“It’s going to be big,” he said. “We anticipate over five thousand (5,000) people coming in during the month of March. We anticipate over two thousand (2,000) people on the 17th of March so we all have to be prepared.”
Naming ‘Customs’, he continues, “You know the whole of Montserrat have to be prepared and you know we want a smooth transition from the time they leave UK, Canada, China everywhere, Antigua and hit Montserrat, we want people to be smiling from the time they get to Antigua and into Montserrat.”
Last year March it is estimated that three thousand five hundred visitors came to the island during the month of March, a claim that has been debated seemingly in the halls of accounting officers in government, following the accounting of a bust budget, which another long standing hard working celebrity organizer member who claims that the sum of over six million dollars ($6m) was generated in Montserrat during the period.
Duberry added, “Montserrat will be invaded and I want our local people to be part of this. If you have a downstairs room that need a bit of work to get it rented or rentable to rentable standard, you need to get that sorted.”
“I’m not a car renter,” he said, “But I’ve being bombarded with telephone calls about car and about rooms or apartments and the tourist department has been bombarded with similar requests, and you know Montserratians and people live in Montserrat have to be part of this. It’s not just about the St. Patrick’s Committee, so you all need to get on board.”