The Blog entry to Follow was actually written before the start of Antigua Tourism Week, I held off publication, as I wanted to see if negotiation would solve the problem, as of December. 13, 2007, the saga continues!!!

In Antigua, National Tourism Week 2007 will be celebrated from November 25th. to November 30th.

It would seem almost laughable but it is actually tragic, that just before the National Celebration of Tourism here in Antigua, one of the major contributors to Antigua's tourism sector a Mr Robert Barrett, controlling Galley Bay, St James's Club and now the Verandah Resort, is actively disrupting the comfort and "The Visitor Experience" for all who reside or visit the Long Bay, Indian Town Creek  and Devil's Bridge area.

How? you ask, well, since he has opened his new supposedly eco-friendly resort Verandah, his resort Verandah, has scheduled early morning, 4:00AM massive mosquito fogging, which engulfs the whole Bay Area, with smelly chemicals and offending noise. On top of that he has totally disregarded the numerous requests of the  people in the Indian Town Creek area to reschedule the fogging for early evening;  by refusing to reschedule the fogging to take place at the more reasonable time of early evening. We know this, as the fogging is still being carried out, as recently as of today at 5:00AM.

It has been pointed out to Mr. Barrett and his resort manager Mr. Alex deBrito, via direct email, on numerous occasions, that the early morning fogging disrupts the sleep of all who live and visit the Indian Town Creek area. He has been asked directly by the Long Bay Hotel and others that if mosquito fogging is a necessary evil, then said fogging should be scheduled for the early evening and not at  4:00 or 5:00AM in the mornings when all are still in their beds. The reason an early evening fogging is more acceptable to all, is that if the fogging was done at dusk, then all in the area would be able to enjoy a good nights rest, without the noise and chemical  contamination assaulting people while they are trying to enjoy the cool tropical breezes and a good , full nights sleep. For many who live and reside in the area natural is the order of the day, meaning open windows, to let in the cool night air, are the norm and a lack of air conditioning prevails. It also is a fact that since most of the residents in the area, including the guest accommodations, do not have air conditioning, the noise and chemicals of all 4:00AM fogging's travel directly through the homes and guest rooms. It should be noted here, that Mr. Barrett's lack of action is somewhat incomprehensible as, his own guests have complained about the early morning fogging, see TripAdvisor.com.

We have on several occasions appealed to Mr. Barrett's sense of fair play and decency, see excerpt below; the continued unabated fogging proves to us, that we will have to appeal to our Government and others to step in and ensure all who live, visit or work in the area are treated with respect. It seems that Mr. Barrett feels that his new eco-friendly (ha!) resort has Carte' Blanche to do whatever without any regard to the local environment, the comfort of the local residents or the "WORLD CLASS VISITOR EXPERIENCE" offered to the visitors of the area and Antigua.

Is this the face of "World Class Tourism" Mr. Barrett wants to present to the world?

" Before I go too far with my complaining, arguing and begging, I would like to ask you to use your better judgment and influence, coupled with plain decency to have the 4:00AM mosquito fogging at your Veranda resort rescheduled or ideally stopped all together. Quite honestly I cannot understand why this request would fall upon deaf ears and be ignored, unless your goal is to try and destroy my guests vacation experience and by extension the success of my little business. My little resort is absolutely of no threat to your huge hospitality machine, in fact the number of guests you cater to in a week, would fill my little hotel to the brim for a full year, so I find it hard to believe you would intentionally, negatively affect the comfort of my guests and staff, purely for monetary gain. If your future actions or inaction show that you choose not to work and act like a good neighbor I can only surmise that somehow you feel that little Long Bay Hotel, poses some kind of financial threat to your empire, which honestly, I find very difficult to believe. The only other thought that pops into my head is that, you would be choosing, to disrupt my guest’s and Pineapple Beaches guest’s vacation experience; the local area home owners quality of life and my staff’s comfort, is ; because you can. "