Gaston Browne

Antigua and Barbuda needs at least 10,000 accommodation rooms to strengthen its tourism industry and attract larger international conferences, Prime Minister Gaston Browne says.

Speaking on the Browne and Browne Show on Saturday, Browne said the demand for accommodation during the Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting underscored the need for more hotels and locally owned Airbnb properties.

“We need to at least have no less than 10,000 rooms,” he said. “There are certain conferences that we cannot bid for because we don’t have enough rooms.”

Browne said the government continues to make land available to residents at concessional rates to encourage the development of Airbnb accommodation.

He argued that additional rooms would allow the country to pursue events beyond its current capacity, including a United Nations climate conference, commonly known as COP. A smaller preparatory climate meeting is being explored, he said.

“We have the kind of influence within the COP framework that we can bring a COP here, or could have if we had enough rooms,” Browne said. “We don’t have enough rooms.”

The prime minister also said FIFA President Gianni Infantino had expressed interest in bringing one of the organisation’s congresses to Antigua and Barbuda during discussions when he visited several weeks earlier. No confirmed hosting arrangement was announced.

Browne said the government hopes senior business figures attending CHOGM will consider the country as a destination for their own corporate meetings and conferences.

He pointed to hotels under construction and planned accommodation near the American University of Antigua as developments that could help support future events.

In Barbuda, he said, developers of luxury properties are being encouraged to provide larger conference facilities. Some homeowners are heads of major corporations who could bring their teams to the island for meetings, he added.

Browne described conference tourism as an opportunity to diversify the country’s tourism product, attract visitors with greater spending power and increase earnings for local businesses.

He also argued that the value of hosting major gatherings should be measured beyond immediate revenue and expenditure, taking account of international publicity, investment contacts and future business.

“The demand is there,” he said, “but we just don’t have the rooms to satisfy the demand.”

This article was originally published by Antigua News Room. Read the original article here: Antigua and Barbuda needs at least 10,000 rooms to expand conference tourism, PM says.