MercoPress. South Atlantic News Agency
Falkland Islands: lifestyle, not facilities attract visitors
“LIFESTYLE and the destination,” attracts visitors to the Falkland Islands “?not the facilities,” emphasised the new Falkland Islands Tourist Board Manager this week.
Asked if he was concerned that as facilities are developed in destinations such as Ushuaia, the Falklands might appear to have fallen behind, Mr Dowling said although it was important to continually review facilities for cruise ship visitors, he believed the unique selling points of the islands were such things as lifestyle, hospitality and friendliness of Islanders. Speaking to the Falkland Islands Radio Station he commented on plans for port development saying, "The key here in terms of infrastructure is to make sure that if something does get built it matches the needs of all the industries that may be using it and we get their involvement with regard to what their requirements are?" On the issue of cruise ship visitor congestion in Stanley he said, "?cruise companies are really important to tourism in the Falklands and I would ideally like to increase numbers of cruise ship visitors, but of course it would be better to spread them out over the season; but at the same time I don't want to upset passengers and reduce the numbers, so I will be keeping a close eye on this topic." Mr Dowling said his short-term aim for islands tourism is to, "?develop a national tourism strategy for the industry," which he hopes to complete by early 2008. In the long term he hopes to, "?develop a sustainable growth in tourism arrivals and more importantly, yield, there is no point building numbers up and making less money off those numbers." He also wants to ensure, "?destination, culture and the environment are only effected in a positive manner." by Lisa Johnston - SeAled PR - Stanley
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