About 75 members of St. Croix’s tourism industry marched on the Lieutenant Governor’s Office Tuesday morning to protest Michael Bornn’s dismissal as commissioner of Tourism.
Lt. Gov. Gerard Luz James II, however, wasn’t in his office to hear members of the St. Croix Accommodations Council, the St. Croix Hotel and Tourism Association, the Chamber of Commerce and Christiansted Restaurant and Retail Associations voice their displeasure with Bornn’s sacking and the dismal state of tourism on St. Croix.
Gov. Charles Turnbull last week withdrew Bornn’s nomination for Tourism commissioner over differences in "operating and management styles." Bornn’s most egregious error, said Turnbull, was "openly" opposing the administration’s effort to have the Senate approve a bill seeking a $300 million bond measure. The bill ultimately passed.
But the people who took to the streets of Christiansted Tuesday said that despite his views on the bond issue, Bornn was the right person to lead Tourism and he should be reinstated. Turnbull has said, however, that he will not resubmit Bornn’s name to the Senate.
Peter Locke, owner of the Chenay Bay Resort and president of the St. Croix Accommodations Council, said Bornn’s ouster illustrated the need to depoliticize the Department of Tourism.
"The governor needs to privatize Tourism to avoid political pork-barreling," Locke said.
Wendel Snider of the Hibiscus Beach Hotel said the Accommodations Council plans to submit draft legislation that would place tourism in the hands of the private sector.
The main reason hoteliers want to privatize is the Hotel Occupancy Tax, which totals approximately $11 million a year. Those funds are, by law, supposed to be deposited in the Tourism Revolving Fund and used to market the territory as a tourism destination. However, much of that revenue has been diverted to meet government obligations.
"In the last four years the hotels in the territory have contributed $36 million into the advertising fund," Snider said. "In that time period the government has spent $400,000. It’s time we privatized Tourism."
Locke called St. Croix’s 45 percent annual occupancy rate a "disgrace." He compared St. Lucia’s 75 percent occupancy rate during September, a traditionally slow month throughout the region, to St. Croix’s 15 percent.
If St. Croix’s occupancy rate could be increased to 75 percent annually, Locke said the island would gain 400 more jobs and collect $4 million more a year.
Meanwhile, St. Croix’s Democrats said in a release Tuesday that they supported Turnbull’s decision to let Bornn go. St. Croix District Chairman Terrence Joseph said a governor’s cabinet members have to work as a team.
"Gov. Turnbull had no choice but to withdraw (Bornn’s) name," the release said.
