The Ministry has completed a feasibility study on
the establishment of Hospitality Institute to be
completed by 2012. This Ministry is supported by
the main government website which has many of
SVG’s attractions available online.
SVG is aiming to launch a one-stop shop travel
portal by the end of 2010.The tourism sector
produces a weekly newsletter, “What’s on in
SVG” which highlights weekly events, and which
is distributed widely to visitors and hotels.
2.8.2 Investment Promotion in ICT
The National Investment Promotion Incorporation
– SVG Invest has been mandated to deal with
foreign investment including ICT, so that some
level of attention is being paid to the ICT sector.
The current business community in SVG has been
characterised by succession of family ownership
and management, heavily import reliant, and
resistant to change, concentrated in the retail and
distribution trade. It has been suggested that
more than 75% of businesses utilise computers.
However, e-Commerce activities within the
country are limited by the high costs of operating
merchant accounts.
Work has been completed under the EU/SFA 2005
Business Skills and e-Business Incubators Project,
Strategic Alliance Programme (SAP), on the
utilisation of strategic alliances on key sectors.
The SAP is expected to contribute to the
economic diversification and improve the
competitiveness and employment capacity of the
ICT services, agricultural, manufacturing and
tourism sectors through the fostering of strategic
alliances between the beneficiary SMEs, local
stakeholders, and regional / international
partners.
For example, the SAP proposes to provide
technical assistance in the development of at
least three joint e-commerce projects in specified
sectors with the participation of about 100 SMEs.
It proposes among other things, the development
of SVG’s ICT Portal to act as a gateway for the
promotion of ICT service providers which would
contain the following:
Directory of providers
Service procurement facility marketplace
Delivery of e-learning courses/webinars
Central databank of all ICT initiatives in SVG
Networking and development of an online
community of ICT service providers
ICT hub to attract investors
Promote SVG as a competitive location for
ICT Sector and Service Industries
St. Vincent & the Grenadines National ICT Strategy and Action Plan P a g e | 48
The concept of business incubators is being
pursued in the proposed Centre of Excellence and
will play a role in supporting the software
development business.
CIPO, Commercial Intellectual Property
Organisation in 2010 will mandate business
registration on line with a long transition for the
persons who have difficulty with registering
business names.
2.8.3
Off-shoring, In-sourcing, Supply
Chaining, Customer Care Centre
and Foreign Direct Investment
There are several Customer Care Centres in St.
Vincent in Legal, Medical Transcription and
Telemarketing. Substantial experience and
lessons have been learnt on the success and
failure of attracting such investments. It has
become clear that the critical and important
competitiveness and quality issues must be
addressed in moving forward. These issues
include the relatively high telecommunications
cost, the choice of technology, quality of
management, availability of human resource, and
the skills required by potential employees.
The relocation of Arnos Vale Airport to Argyle
provides tremendous opportunity for the creation
of a New City, educational and sporting
institutions, local businesses, and Foreign Direct
Investment (FDI).