NIA CHARLESTOWN NEVIS (March 07, 2023) —The Ministry of Tourism has embarked on a paradigm shift of its business model at the Nevisian Heritage Village on Fothergills Estate in Gingerland.
Mr. John Hanley, Permanent Secretary in the Ministry of Tourism, which is charged with overseeing spoke of the shift at the village’s 20th anniversary celebrations which was held on March 03, 2023.
“Previously, the Ministry largely assumed major responsibility for organizing and vending while we were hosting events as there was some initial reluctance of vendors in the community. We are now increasingly outsourcing to community-based vendors and cultural practitioners. In this vein we are happy for the first time to be hosting two onsite local businesses which will officially open today.
“The Heritage Café by Sophia Wallace which will feature a wide variety of traditional Nevisian fair. We’ll also open a gift shop – D’s Souvenirs and Things – operated by Ms. Denver Jones Skakur, which will feature a wide variety of keepsakes for visitors to the village to purchase. The gift shop will accommodate electronic transfers critical in a digital age where we are becoming increasingly cashless in our mode of doing business,” he said.
Hon. Eric Evelyn, Minister of Culture and Area representative for the St. George’s Parish, cut the ribbon to signal the official opening of D’s Souvenirs and Gift Shop. The symbolic ribbon cutting to signal the official opening of The Heritage Café was done by Hon. Mark Brantley, Premier of Nevis and Minister of Tourism.
Meantime, Mr. Brantley applauded both women business owners for their decision to open up shop at the Village.
“I feel particularly happy that we have two small businesses that will be launched today. We have a small restaurant and we have a small gift shop, both of which I think compliment what we are doing, and I’m particularly happy that we’ve moved away from this idea that the government has to do everything and that we have given two young female entrepreneurs the opportunity to come here and to do something for themselves and for their families.
“I’m a big proponent of small businesses, and small businesses which are owned by women, I’m particularly happy about those, and so I applaud them both. I wish them every success… Let us support each other. Let us be here, and let us continue to support this incredible facility. Malcolm, thank you. Yvonne, thank you for lending him to us, and I thank all who continue to make this facility the excellent facility that it is,” he said.
The opening of both businesses coincided with the 20th anniversary celebration of the Nevisian Heritage Village.
The facility was conceptualized and opened through the vision of Hon. Malcolm Earl Guishard of blessed memory, who was a former Deputy Premier of Nevis and Minister of Tourism in the Nevis Island Administration (NIA).
The aim of the 5.5-acre village was to showcase the island’s social history through housing from the time of the Amerindians who first inhabited the island, through post slavery up to the era of the 1950s.
Among those present were Her Honour Mrs. Hyleeta Liburd, Deputy Governor General for Nevis; Hon Spencer Brand; Hon. Jahnel Nisbett; Hon. Latoya Jones, Deputy Speaker of the National Assembly; Hon. Alexis Jeffers, Special Advisor to the Premier of Nevis; Mrs. Hélène Ann Lewis, Legal Advisor; and Hon. Dr. Janice Daniel Hodge, Opposition Member.
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