MercoPress. South Atlantic News Agency

New Tourism Centre to greet Falklands visitors, opened.

The 30,000 tourists who will flock to the Falkland Islands in the forthcoming austral summer will benefit greatly from a newly opened US$500,000 ?Visitors Centre' which will provide an accommodating information desk, modern tourism features, International telephone booths, attractive clothing for sale and most importantly for the North American tourists ? state of the art ?rest room' facilities.

The building, which is situated just a few meters from the pier where sea passengers disembark, was financed by the Falkland Islands Government through fishing license revenue which currently stands annually at around US$ 40 millions. It indicates yet another major step forward by the Falklands Government in the continuing programme to expand and upgrade the capital Port Stanley, while providing modern amenities for the ever-increasing number of visitors to the Islands. Just five years ago the number of tourists visiting the Falklands numbered around 4-5,000, but now the figure has risen dramatically to 30,000 plus.

Governor Donald Lamont talked of the Centre as ?a very important development in the way we manage tourism in the Falklands and the image we present to those who visit here ?a quality building'.

Director of Tourism John Fowler, while obviously delighted with the new building, spoke positively about ?A second phase Centre' which it is expected will be financed jointly by the Falklands Government and the private sector. ?It will contain an area where the heritage of the Islands will be revealed ? who we are and where we came from - while also depicting our ambitions and aims for the future', he said. However according to Mr. Fowler at the moment the emphasis will be on employing people in the Centre, ?who live here and can inform and give a real account of the human scale of things in the Falklands'.

Councillor for Tourism, Richard Cockwell, talked enthusiastically of the new ?Visitors Centre' saying, ?we have to have a quality showcase for the Falklands ? without doubt tourism is the fastest growing industry in the Islands at the moment and the more infrastructure like this that we can develop the faster tourism will grow'.

While tourism will occupy the ground floor, the first floor of the building will provide excellent office space for the staff of Falklands Conservation, an organization whose importance within the Islands and Internationally is increasing at a rapid pace. The monitoring of the Islands sea bird, seal and penguin populations by Conservation staff is providing valuable information for ornithologists and naturalists world-wide.