Ireland’s Ambassador to Canada, Antigua and Barbuda, Jamaica, The Bahamas, and Saint Lucia, John Concannon, has pointed to Ireland’s six-decade-long focus on small, family-owned tourism enterprises as a model from which Antigua and Barbuda’s own small operators could draw lessons, as he commended the country’s globally recognised tourism brand.

Speaking to Antigua.News alongside Shane Ryan, Director of Ireland’s Office for the Caribbean, the Ambassador drew a structural contrast between the two island economies.

Ireland’s tourism sector, he said, is built predominantly on small and medium-sized enterprises operating across accommodation, attractions, activities, and events, while Antigua and Barbuda’s is anchored by large-scale resorts and hotels.

However, he noted a practical distinction that carries economic weight for any tourism-dependent economy.

Ambassador Concannon noted that Ireland’s Rural and Regional Development Agency, Údarás, has since the mid-1960s pursued a deliberate government policy of supporting small enterprises, setting standards, and enabling those businesses to boost the tourism industry.

During last year’s visit to Ireland by Governor-General Sir Rodney Williams and Lady Sandra Williams, the Irish delegation arranged visits to the national tourist board and other agencies to share operational lessons from the Irish experience.

Ambassador Concannon said those conversations also took place with Prime Minister Gaston Browne and the Minister of Tourism Charles Fernandez during his own first visit to Antigua earlier this year.