Literary Festival Tourism in Montserrat

Abstract

BackgroundRESEARCHERS HAVE DOCUMENTED THE RAPID TRANSFORMATION of the economy of the British Overseas Territory of Montserrat from agriculture in the 1950s to an emerging services sector including construction and in the 1960s.1 These developments created an environment that encouraged the introduction and growth of residential tourism.2 Residential tourists are those persons who live abroad but own homes on Montserrat.William H. Bramble, union leader and champion of the working classes, became a member of the Legislative Council in 1952. On assuming office, he concentrated on dismantling the sharecropping or metayage system which he felt exploited the labourers by not adequately compensating them for their work on the estates. This resulted in a movement away from agriculture in general, and cotton production in particular, and many estates fell idle. Alan Gunne-Jones notes the dramatic decline in the number of agricultural workers from a high of 4,030 in 1946 to 1,859 by 1960.3 Bramble became Montserrat's first Chief Minister in 1961, and his development strategy of facilitating foreign investment encouraged real estate speculators from North America to purchase many of the idle estates, particularly those along the west coast, which were then subdivided into serviced lots. These were subsequently marketed to North Americans who wanted either winter or retirement homes in an idyllic tropical setting. This led to a building boom in Montserrat and other infrastructural developments.Between 1960 and 1970, over five thousand acres of former estate lands were transferred from planters to development companies. Three real estate development companies directly involved in the development and promotion of residential purchased most of this land.4 The real estate investors persuaded the owners of the lone hotel then in existence, the Coconut Hill Hotel, to develop a resort hotel where potential homeowners would be able to stay. The Vue Pointe Hotel was opened in 1961. The following year, the Emerald Isle Hotel, another local investment initiative, was opened. These developments established the role of resort as an adjunct to residential on the island.The Montserrat Report for the Years 1963 and 1964 mentions the opening of the golf course and goes on to highlight that tourism also did much to assist in improving the economy of the island and its expansion was so rapid that consideration was being given to the appointment of a full-time Secretary to the Tourist Board.5 Only one house geared at the residential tourist market was built in 1963, but by 1966, there were forty-three occupied dwellings. By 1968, the number had risen to 150.6The banking business also boomed. The single commercial banking institution on the island, the Royal Bank of Canada (there since 1917), constructed a new building, opened in 1965, in recognition of the need to expand to handle the burgeoning services sector. Barclays Bank International opened its Montserrat branch in 1965. One year later, the Montserrat Building Society, with a mix of local and foreign shareholders, opened its doors for business.With the presence of residential tourists on the island came the need for other services. Interestingly, some of the new homeowners set up businesses to meet these needs. According to Gunne-Jones,Connie from Pennsylvania opened up Connie's Beauty Shop; Ernst Herman, an importer from Boston, established the Empire Shop which stocked French, German and Italian wines (and eventually included books in its inventory) and the Reierstads from Hong Kong opened two stores stocking jewels and furniture from Barbados. Glover & Mitchell (Mont) Ltd, a British grocer also opened a branch in Montserrat, and Dehaven Butterworth from New Jersey opened a soft-freeze ice cream shop.7Residential encouraged the development of ancillary services, which provided jobs for Montserratians and brought the island out of abject poverty and persistent underdevelopment. …