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Delegates have been arriving from morning.
Top world leaders have landed for the Fourth International Conference on Small Island Developing States (SIDS4)!
It’s is expected to be massive gathering bringing together governments, the UN, civil society, the private sector, and leading youth voices to turn new ideas into action.
Prime Minister Gaston Browne is hyped because the SIDS4 Conference is set to inject Millions into the Antigua and Barbuda Economy.
Over 5000 people have already booked hotels and other accommodations
“If we assume that for their accommodation and food, they spend USD$2000 per person, that is about USD$10 million. And I am sure that they would buy gifts, pay head tax, which would have contributed USD$1.4 million,” he said
Browne said the counterpart funding to develop the facilities for SIDS4 will also be recovered
“We had decided against renting the cruise ship to accommodate between 1500-200 delegates. As a consequence, they are renting ABnB properties so local Antiguans and Barbudans will benefit from this conference by virtue of renting their properties to the delegates,” he said
There will also be a great spin-off for taxi operators who will be transporting these delegates.
Only the car rentals, taxis, hotels and restaurants will be the ones benefiting mostly, and the hotels and some restaurants are owned my foreigners where their moneys are sent back to their countries. Most of these hotels don’t buy locally they buy from Mr Barret wholesale at Horizon.