Joseph Boschulte On Trunk Bay, St. Thomas Ranking #1 On Expedia, St. Thomas Carnival + More
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Speaker 1 (00:03):
What's up.
Speaker 2 (00:04):
It's way up with Angela Yee and I have a
really special guest and I'm excited to have you here
so we can welcome you to what we have going
on here. But Commissioner Joseph Baschalti, who is the Commissioner
for the US Virgin Islands Department of Tourism, so welcome.
Speaker 1 (00:19):
I know you've been here quite a bit.
Speaker 3 (00:20):
So I've been in the city many times. I actually
worked here three different times throughout my career. And you know,
I always appreciate coming to New York City. I love
it in the summer because there's a different kind of
energy right in the summertime. You know, people are out,
you know, fortunate to be staying right around Times Square.
So it's super busy, right. I think today's Yoga Day,
(00:41):
International Yoga Day, so it's like yoga from six o'clock
this morning, you were doing yoga. No, I was just
listening to them tell people what to do.
Speaker 1 (00:49):
I actually love yoga.
Speaker 2 (00:50):
I was telling somebody the other day when it comes
to like getting rid, if you have any back pains
or any type of like anything, yoga will cure all
of that.
Speaker 1 (00:58):
And so oh, I didn't know.
Speaker 3 (01:00):
Just try one of these days. Yeah, it didn't move me.
Speaker 1 (01:02):
Today, Okay, didn't move you all right.
Speaker 2 (01:04):
Well, I want to talk about you know, everybody saw
that we were out in St. Thomas for Carnival, and
I want to thank you because, honestly, between you and Ayana,
who is working with you and contacted us to come
out there, my friends and I were like, this is
one of the best trips we've ever been on. One
of my friends, Koya, said this was actually her favorite
trip ever.
Speaker 3 (01:22):
Nice, you know, and love to hear that.
Speaker 2 (01:24):
We really did have a great time. And I've been
to Saint Thomas quite a bit. But I want to
talk about the US Virgin Islands overall. First, so for
people listening right, for the US Virgin Islands, you don't
need a passport if you're coming from the United States
because it's.
Speaker 3 (01:37):
Part you're citizen. You're coming from the United States, No
passport necessary, okay.
Speaker 2 (01:40):
And what are the islands that are included, because you know,
we have the British Virgin Islands and then we have
the US Virgin.
Speaker 3 (01:44):
So the US Virgin Islands, three main islands of Saint
Thomas where you were for Carnival, Saint John where we
have our celebration that's happened in the last week of
June into fourth of July, fourth of July. And then
of course the biggest USBI is Saint Croix, Okay, and
that is where we have the celebration that happens right
around New Years.
Speaker 2 (02:04):
All right, and so and you know, I was there
during the pandemic, which was for me, first of all,
didn't have my passport because I had to get it renewed,
and it just wasn't happening during that time, and I
was like, I have to go somewhere.
Speaker 1 (02:17):
And I've been to Saint Thomas on a few occasions.
Speaker 2 (02:19):
I've been to Saint John as well, and so I
ended up going and spending a week in Saint John.
Speaker 1 (02:23):
And it was really nice.
Speaker 2 (02:24):
And you guys did a great job, by the way,
during COVID and during the pandemic.
Speaker 1 (02:29):
What was that like for you?
Speaker 3 (02:30):
Yeah, it was. It was stressful in the sense that
we knew our governor, Governor al but Brian, he knew
that right now seventy percent of our GDP is driven
by direct or indirect tourism. So we knew when we
shut down in March that we had to do something,
and we just couldn't stay closed. So we had conversations
with our whole commissioner and the whole COVID team, and
(02:52):
then we made an announcement that we won't reopen. So
he was like, Joe, you got to get out to
see if the airline is going to fly to us,
see if the hotels are going to be ready. Because
of course we had to protect against the residents getting sick,
and collectively we all worked together. I worked out really
really well for us. So we opened in June or
twenty and then we did extremely well, actually better than
any of us thought, because people wanted, like you wanted
(03:14):
to get.
Speaker 2 (03:14):
Away, Casper, I want to go somewhere, and we definitely stayed.
You know, we had a villa, so we definitely kind
of stayed there, but we were able to venture ound
a little bit with our masks on and go sit
outside places.
Speaker 3 (03:23):
Yeah. So we worked with our local hotels, villas, restaurants,
bars to have protocols that allow people to come and
get out if they wanted to, and I worked well.
And then we had a portal that allowed people to
have certain tests, COVID tests to come in and then
when the vaccinations came out. You could show your vaccinations
to get in, so it was well organized in terms
of what was there. And then the most important thing
(03:45):
that we found is people don't go on vacation to
get sick. So people would come in and they were
following what they had to follow.
Speaker 1 (03:51):
Yeah, we are not playing those games.
Speaker 3 (03:53):
And we want to coming out so.
Speaker 1 (03:54):
You don't have to isolate somewhere, right, So.
Speaker 3 (03:57):
It worked out really really well. We did extremely well
and terms of our tourism product and a whole they
kept us up and then we were fortunate enough that
our numbers didn't spike.
Speaker 1 (04:09):
Like some of the other places.
Speaker 3 (04:11):
So we had a couple of spikes like around busy
times Thanksgiving and Christmas time, but they weren't totally out
of control. And I think a lot of that had
to do with, you know, people really following the protocols
and people who got sick, you know, our team was
ready to deal with them, and I mean on the
health care side. And then you know, as we continue
to get more people vaccinated, that helped in terms of
(04:35):
you know, keeping the numbers down. And then throughout the
as we moved from you know, the earlier stages of
the COVID time. Then we moved into having the portal,
and then we moved out of the portal as things changed.
And we've been fortunate enough to be here in twenty
twenty four and our tourism product is doing extremely well.
So thank you and everybody else that helps us promote
(04:55):
what a great vacation time you can have any usb.
Speaker 2 (04:58):
You know, one of my first vacations ever was to
Saint Thomas. And I know I told you this offline previously,
but my best friend from carlis Auntie Gold. Her family
they would rent a villa. It was like all the
way on top of this mountain. Every year they're like,
you can come, just get your flight and come with us.
And when I tell you like for me to have
that as my first vacation, it was one of the
(05:19):
most amazing experiences that.
Speaker 1 (05:22):
I ever had.
Speaker 2 (05:22):
And I know I told you this before. We went
to go to Greenhouse and Greenhouse is still there. This
was so long ago, but I just remember going to
a party at Greenhouse and having like the time of
my life. Cause it's one in Saint Martin also, and
then one in Saint Thomas, and then the shopping in St.
Thomas has always been amazing.
Speaker 3 (05:38):
Yeah, I think that's That's one of the things that
we feel really good about is that we have places
like the Greenhouse has been around for decades that still
offers the same laid back island experience. Of course, the
shopping still does really well, particularly on the cruise ship side,
so lots of people come in, particularly to shop in
Saint Thomas especially, and that's been working really well. And
(05:59):
of course you mentioned and the mountains, right, so we
have lots of villas and houses on the tops of mountains.
I have a funny story with one of my old
business school mats that came down with me one time
and we were in the Greenhouse funny enough, and I
was like, it goes down. I was like, dude, I'm
getting ready to leave. He's like, don't worry about it.
I'm gonna get to the house. I was like, you
know what the house is. He said, yeah, it's right
up in the mountain. I'll just get there. I was
like what, But he did, no, he did it. I
(06:23):
ended up staying with him because you know, the mountains
in the night, you really don't know, especially you you
don't know where you're going.
Speaker 1 (06:30):
And one thing I do love about it what you
just said.
Speaker 2 (06:32):
It is Also it feels like very safe to me,
And that's a big deal for me as a woman
when I'm traveling and I think about, like where can
I go where I'm not going to be like I'm
stuck on the resort. I can't go anywhere when I
go there. You know, there's a lot of we went to.
What was the restaurant we went to, Ayana is a
black owned restaurant. It was the Welcome Dinner Rendezvous. Yes,
we went to Rendezvous. When I tell you like that waterfront, Yeah,
(06:56):
that was beautiful.
Speaker 3 (06:57):
Yeah. I think I think one of the things that
we we because been a big tourism destination for a
long time. I think our residents one respect tourists visitors
because they understand how important it's our economy. Secondly, and
more importantly, we want tourists to be safe, right, because
if you're not safe, then it impacts the quality of
(07:17):
life for all of us. So there's always this understanding
of uh with tourists for the most part, uh, leave
them alone. Yeah, they helped their help to help keep
keep all of us living.
Speaker 1 (07:29):
Everybody was friendly though, And I think the.
Speaker 3 (07:32):
Third thing that we do is we respect your privacy.
So people know you and they know of you, and
if you want to engage, they'll engage. If you don't
really want to engage or you're doing your own thing,
they'd be like, oh yeah, essentially, yo, she's so cool,
and then they'll just kind of go about our merry
business and engaging.
Speaker 2 (07:46):
While I was out there, because we were so first
of all, love the hotel that we stayed at. Every
when I tell you, like, everything was perfectly planned and
laid out for us.
Speaker 1 (07:57):
But we did go to Juve.
Speaker 2 (07:59):
And I know you were saying earlier that like, I
don't know how y'all do it to be out like that,
because we woke up at five in the morning to
get up and go party all day and it was
like the hottest day.
Speaker 1 (08:08):
It was like one hundred and something degrees.
Speaker 2 (08:10):
But I will say, like, just to see everybody outside,
all different ages, everybody dress however they wanted to dress,
even the people who were working and like cleaning the street,
they were dancing partying. I was like, Okay, this is
a total vibe. Like it felt very you know, it
felt very unifying for me to be able to you know,
I launched the show. I've been working really hard. I
(08:30):
haven't been on a vacation, and so when Randy up
here at I Heeart was like, would you be down
to go to you know the same time as Carnival,
I was like, sign me up.
Speaker 3 (08:39):
That's great. Well maybe next year, maybe would bring the
way up down to the USVI next year.
Speaker 1 (08:43):
Listen, I have plans, trust me and commission to Joe.
You're here for a reason. We have big plans.
Speaker 2 (08:48):
But I really like when I get to go somewhere
and then I can like encourage people, you know, because
people will ask you, like, where's a good place to
go on vacation. It was great for a girl's trip,
you know, just for for the ladies listening my friends.
Only some hot guys out here too, so they enjoyed
themselves with that part. But we also what we did
that I really love was we went to Saint John
(09:09):
for the day and we went to Trunk Bay, which
was voted the number one beach in the world out
of all the beaches they had the top fifty beaches
and Trunk Bay was number one on that list.
Speaker 3 (09:18):
Yeah, we're really proud of it. We have beautiful beaches
all over the USBI and Saint John has probably the
most pretty beaches in a small little island that I
can think of. And I've traveled all over the Caribbean
and Trunk Bay is just one of them. I mean,
I don't know how many beaches you went to when
you want Saint John just that one.
Speaker 1 (09:39):
But next week to get back to Carnival, Yeah, exactly.
Speaker 3 (09:41):
The next time, we'll get you around on the boat
so you could visit them from the water side and
come into the beaches, which is a totally different experience
than when you come from the land side and go
to the beach and leave. But we were happy. Trunk
Bay has been iconic for many, many years. If you
look at some of the posters of the USBI over
the years and ma gazines, Trunk Bait is the is
the spot that they use a lot, from the under
(10:04):
Underground Museum to all of the other things that you
have on the beach itself, and just the pure beauty
of it. Uh. It still almost has that innocent fear
when you go there, even though you know thousands of
people go there every.
Speaker 2 (10:15):
Year and you've done a great jab you guys have
spacing out like the events so you know, I was
at Saint Thomas Carnival and right now in Saint John
they're having the Saint John Celebration right which you were
talking about.
Speaker 3 (10:27):
That kicks off similarly, you know six Days in the Village,
which is our nightly music festival that's free, where we
have the best acts from around the world, Soca reggae,
uh and then we we what we've added over the
last year as.
Speaker 2 (10:41):
The band Patrice Viberts, A Dextadabs, Bungee, Garland, Richie Spice.
Speaker 3 (10:45):
You got it. All of those we bring in. White
Cleff is gonna be in Saint John. So that's so
what we've been trying to do is since we do
these carnival events and we're almost trying to make a
music festival, so you have to really have different types
of people. So we the Vito and Saint Croix last year.
Now we got White Cliff, We had Shaggy in St. Thomas,
(11:07):
which who was a crossover.
Speaker 1 (11:08):
Artist, Shaggy.
Speaker 3 (11:10):
So we've been doing it and people. What it also
does is it allows different kind of people from all
sorts of race, religion, ages to come out and like
you mentioned in Juvid and just be part of a
vibe and we love it.
Speaker 2 (11:24):
And those white people were getting down to I just
want to say I was on there. I got some
videos those white people was losing their minds at Duvet.
Speaker 1 (11:32):
But I did love to see it. You know.
Speaker 2 (11:35):
It was all, like you said, all different kinds of people.
They were young people. They were like little babies out
on you know, on shoulders.
Speaker 3 (11:40):
You know, we got to get that culture in you
from early.
Speaker 1 (11:43):
Listen the kids were dancing.
Speaker 2 (11:45):
I was like, this is honestly like to feel like
it's a family thing.
Speaker 1 (11:49):
It's all everybody respecting each other.
Speaker 2 (11:52):
And I didn't feel like anything, felt like something was
about to go down, you know how we are. I'm
from Brooklyn, so you see somebody push all of a sudden,
everybody start.
Speaker 1 (12:00):
It was nothing like that.
Speaker 3 (12:01):
Now, I think. I think that that was one of
the probably the proudest parts of this entire carnival. We
didn't have any major violent incidents. And I give kudos
to our legal team, excuse me, our police departments and
all the planning because we do have a philosophy which
is uh to prevent. So we made sure that you know,
(12:22):
when you went out there, the law enforcements was all around.
Speaker 1 (12:25):
And I tried to go to the bathroom.
Speaker 2 (12:26):
I was like, you guys, no, no, no, we got
to You can't just walk around like that.
Speaker 3 (12:30):
So so that law enforcements was around and that helps.
And I think people also recognize that when you do
act up at these big cultural events, that means that's
it for you if you get caught, right, So people
people just just say, well, it's.
Speaker 1 (12:44):
Not worth it because it is a good time.
Speaker 2 (12:45):
People are drinking, and sometimes that can lead to you know,
people have been drinking like all day from five in
the morning, and as you mentioned.
Speaker 3 (12:52):
It was hot, so drinking and the sun doesn't doesn't
help either. But you know, I think there was also
you know, we we also have the water trucks, right,
so if you're not gonna drink it, then we just
spray you with water.
Speaker 1 (13:01):
Yeah. I saw that too.
Speaker 2 (13:02):
Nobody cared about their here by the way, all right,
and then let's talk about Saint Curix because that carnival
is the last week of December and it goes through
January fifth. And by the way, my birthday is January third,
just that I put that out there. But what's happening
for Saint Croix because we talked about Saint John, We
talked about Saint Thomas, but Saint cry is coming up next.
Speaker 3 (13:20):
Yeah, that's a cruising Christmas festival. Wonderful opportunity for people
that are looking to spend New Year somewhere different. So
Saint Croix is that place. Uh. We have the same
type of nightly events with world class acts every night
for free for you to come out to see in
our village favor. There's a juve that that happens, which is,
you know, for the people that may not know. That's
(13:41):
where the bands go out and play on trucks and
people tramp or or dance along the trucks.
Speaker 1 (13:48):
And but don't mean nothing good here. They dance.
Speaker 3 (13:52):
They they dance up this the quote unquote route. And
then of course we have a parade, and I think
you were in the parade. Yeah, in the parade where
everybody gets dressed and they wear their costumes and they
dance and have fun for like four or five hours.
Speaker 2 (14:06):
It felt longer than that. And I just want to
point out and not to call you out. Commission to Joe.
We were outside walking on that street and then we
stopped at your office.
Speaker 1 (14:15):
It was nice air conditioning. You looked very cool.
Speaker 2 (14:18):
I was like, how come Commissioner Joe is not out
here in his costume.
Speaker 3 (14:21):
I had my years at that back in the day,
so I'm past that. Now I got an excuse. Now
I'm working. I gotta oversee everything.
Speaker 1 (14:27):
But no, you're right.
Speaker 2 (14:28):
That was honestly, like so much fun just walking along
and everybody's dancing and having a good time.
Speaker 1 (14:33):
It was wild. I don't know if I could do
the whole route. I think, like, we got to start, but.
Speaker 3 (14:37):
You know, it's like everything else, you gotta build up.
So you did Sat Thomas. Every time you get to
Saint Croix and then back to Saint Thomas, you'd be
a proven fetter all around.
Speaker 1 (14:46):
Now.
Speaker 2 (14:47):
The other thing I saw, I book a lout of
my travel also on Expedia and expedia dot como so
ranks Saint Thomas the number one trending domestic summer destination.
Speaker 3 (14:56):
Yeah, that was another huge, huge wind for to be
in all of these destinations that people could go through
go through. You know, we actually number one for the world,
number one domestic, but we were very very happy. It
goes to show the work that our team has been doing.
People have been following, we've been very focus on how
we market and who we market to. And what we've
(15:19):
seen is people really are appreciating the opportunity to go
to the USBI because people could go anywhere to vacation, right,
it's your money, you decide where you want to go,
and people have been coming to the USVII. And then
to have Expedia who you know, we know the thousands
of people a book a day on Expedia now to
say hey, you know when they're searching out like Saint
Thomas is popping up. Saint Thomas is popping up. So
(15:39):
we feel really good about it. What I can tell
you is our summer so far has been very, very impressive.
Our flights are coming in full, the cruise ships are
coming in full. So USBI is really trending in the
right direction. And that's why we continue to try to
find people like you who've been there before, but to
(16:01):
come back now and share with people the experiences because
I think a lot of us when we travel, particularly
for vacation, you know, we always want that inside track,
right been there before you like.
Speaker 1 (16:13):
You know, the best restaurants.
Speaker 3 (16:16):
And I think that's been helping us a lot. And
I think we also have had we've been moving our
brand into more national, big places. So we we have
a deal with the New York Jets the game, so
we have a mess light and then we do the
same thing in the Boston area with the Red Sox.
Speaker 1 (16:35):
Down New York and Boston.
Speaker 3 (16:36):
Yeah, with different sports, with different sports.
Speaker 1 (16:38):
Okay, I just got to make sure because you know
how we feel.
Speaker 3 (16:41):
About That's just one the other night.
Speaker 1 (16:43):
Sir, we didn't.
Speaker 3 (16:44):
Okay, but you know, I know they do. I know
they do. I see it, I feel it when I'm around. Okay,
but but we do do it because you know, we
fly we fly jets in for more than just to
try area, so we gotta do a little something Logan
and from over here, and those those partnerships have really
(17:06):
helped us take our brand to a completely different level
because now people see us in this and they see
us affiliated with very loyal fan bases. So the Jets,
of course have a very Loyd fan base. You know,
hopefully they see Aaron Rogers Rogers plays more than four snaps.
Speaker 1 (17:21):
If not, they can go hang out in Saint Croix.
Speaker 3 (17:23):
That's what we've taken on that.
Speaker 2 (17:26):
And and speaking of getting there right the flight situation,
I feel like that's also something that is particularly easy
for us to be able to do. So let's talk
about getting to because really I always fly in the
Saint Thomas right when we go to Saint John.
Speaker 1 (17:41):
We and I learned this.
Speaker 2 (17:42):
I think, I don't know if you told me this,
but last time I took the car on the ferry.
I don't recommend that, Okay, if you drive like I do.
I was so scared because you have to like back
the car. But it's good to have the car. It
is when you get that, but you can Somebody was like,
just rent a car when you get to Saint John
next time.
Speaker 3 (17:57):
It is an experience when they back you up onto
the bar in these little tiny little.
Speaker 2 (18:01):
Spaces and they don't back you got to back yourself
with And there was too much of a precious situation
for me because.
Speaker 3 (18:06):
People are watching you.
Speaker 2 (18:06):
Yeah, they're watching you, and they're like, go ahead, and
then you got to go over to I was like,
oh my god, I'm so nervous. I don't want to
hit a car because it's like fasted and tight.
Speaker 3 (18:14):
But but you know, we we have flights in from
from the tri City, are from Nork and jfk Less
than four hours in. Of course, we fly from Logan
in Boston and Atlanta and Charlotte, and multiple flights today.
Speaker 1 (18:26):
From Orlando from Lando.
Speaker 3 (18:28):
People were coming from Orlando and the Saint Croix from
from Atlanta and Orlando.
Speaker 1 (18:34):
And so there's direct flights to Saint Croix too.
Speaker 3 (18:36):
Yeah, direct flights in the Saint Croix too, So so
the easy ways to get in there. And as you
mentioned in the beginning, there's no passport necessary. So we
know when we take a guy's trip, or you take
a family trip or a girls trip, there's always that
one person that doesn't have that passport, like, oh yeah,
I think I got to renew it and then you
got to change now. But once you come to the
US virgional that's not that's not an issue.
Speaker 1 (18:54):
There's nothing worse than when that passed.
Speaker 2 (18:56):
When you look at your passport and you're like, oh
my god, I didn't realize my passport was about to expire.
Speaker 1 (19:01):
Is expired.
Speaker 2 (19:02):
So yes, that's a belief to not have to think
about that, all right. And then I want to ask
you this just for my own knowledge, no real reason,
recreational marijuana.
Speaker 1 (19:12):
Where are we with that in the Louis Virgin Islands.
Speaker 3 (19:15):
Well, we have we probably have our fair share recreational
marijuana that's not legal yet right happening in the island.
Speaker 2 (19:20):
But you know, I want people to know when you're traveling,
you need to know what the rules are because it's
been legal in so many places.
Speaker 3 (19:26):
It is legal for medicinal now, and our governor has
been a strong proponent to get it to be on
the recreational side. So we have lots of rules and regulations.
It's working its way through the process. I think that
especially what's going on now in the world and people
are finally now appreciating the medicinal benefits of cannabis that
that probably were around for a long time. Would we just,
(19:48):
you know, for whatever reason is the legal system didn't
allow for it to be used where it is now,
So we do have it. It's in place. I think
it's a hope. Excuse me that one of the things
that came out of it was that they could help
the tourism piece in the nih market space that people
come in, they know, could they could get you know,
legal legal cannabis. So it's in play. We're not where
(20:12):
we thought we would be probably three years ago. But
the good thing is just a couple of months ago,
they brought in a new director to market. They brought
in some pieces fill out the board, so the steps
necessary to at least get it to the place where
it can be legal happening.
Speaker 2 (20:27):
Okay, good because nothing like being a yea villa yep, relaxing,
all right. And then I also see that you guys
have this tech Beach conference happening, So talk to me
about that because I think that's something that's going to
be amazing and it's focused on AI.
Speaker 3 (20:40):
Yeah, so that's going on right now. I think it
started out. I think the opening reception.
Speaker 1 (20:43):
Was last night, and it's the first time they've done
this in the US.
Speaker 3 (20:46):
V I yes, and it's it's this group of people
that are basically big into tech, and of course AI
is one of the hot pieces of that space right now.
And they bring all these incredible mind together and they
work by day thinking about how they're going to make
all of us smarter, I guess, and then.
Speaker 1 (21:07):
Night that's easier, right, and then at.
Speaker 3 (21:09):
Night they enjoy what we have to offer as a
Caribbean destination. So what I heard, it seems to be
going well. And then texted me last night to say
it was pouring rain, but they moved inside and the
party didn't stop.
Speaker 1 (21:21):
It was pouring rain and we were there, but we
still have fun.
Speaker 2 (21:24):
Yeah, I will say it was pooring, but it'll rain
for like twenty minutes and then stop and then stop
and we still had you know, still have a time.
Speaker 3 (21:31):
So so it's been it's so from that standpoint, the
techt something and we've been doing really well with a
lot of these conferences that have been coming in. Now
people coming in, they enjoy themselves. They're saying at the
same property that you say that when you were down.
Speaker 1 (21:43):
Loved then the food was amazing there too, food was amazing.
Speaker 3 (21:45):
So so they're doing it. I think it's good for
us in the sense too that they wanted to come
to the USVII, so they've been hearing about the USB.
I have been seeing about USVII. And then the other
thing for us as a tangent type business is we
want people to come and and then think about, hey,
you know I could I could, I could have a
second home, man, I could come back here with my family,
I could do these things. Because that's the other side
(22:06):
of having a good time is then you start to
figure out, now, this might be my destination, destination to
come and then you get to retirement age, it might
be some place to think about. And all of these
things happen with that first seed planet of you actually
going there and liking it, right, because you know, we
know what happens if you go and you don't like it,
then you don't go back.
Speaker 1 (22:23):
You tell everybody don't go.
Speaker 2 (22:24):
You know. It's also true that you can like a
place or not like a place depending on who you
go with. Because I've had people not like and I've
been like, oh my god, I have so much fun.
I love it there, and then I've had people be
like I can't stand it. I'm like, come with me
and we'll have a good time. And I do think
it really does matter a lot who you're with and who.
Like you said, people also want the inside track what
to do.
Speaker 3 (22:42):
You know. That's why my people tall me, oh my gosh,
you know, commission I have my honeymoon here. I say
you're still married, because that would determined whether or not.
Speaker 2 (22:52):
Oh I'm not gonna say, but like the last time
I came here with my husband, I ain't with him.
Speaker 3 (22:56):
No more exactly. But it's like.
Speaker 2 (22:59):
Recreating something new and like setting the groundwork for you know,
for you to really love someplace and get rid of
those old memories exactly.
Speaker 3 (23:08):
Create some new ones.
Speaker 1 (23:08):
Yeah, create some new ones, you know what I'm saying. Now,
what was it like for you? Where did you grow up?
Speaker 3 (23:12):
I grew up on Saint Thomas.
Speaker 1 (23:13):
Okay, what was that like?
Speaker 3 (23:15):
I was great? I mean, you know, it's interest and
I have two kids, and you know, most of the
time when I grew up, you know, everything was outside,
so so you know, all the fruits and being in
the yards and playing ball outside, that's what we did. Uh.
And you know, the sun and the heat was all
part of the experience growing up in the Caribbean. So
it's interesting now when I talk to parents who tell me,
you know, it's too hot outside of the kids, like,
(23:36):
are you kidding me? Exactly? So we have those conversations.
But it was, it was, it was, it was, you know,
it was truly that village experience. So all your friends'
parents knew who you were. It was those days that
that you know, you got in trouble in school, your
parents would probably know you got in trouble in school
before you got home to tell them. That's how connected
(23:57):
we were as.
Speaker 1 (23:58):
It takes the community.
Speaker 3 (24:00):
And I think even now, you know, we still have
a lot of that because we're small, you know, and
I have forty five thousand people in Saint Thomas, Saint John,
forty five thousand people in Saint Croix, So we're tiny
in terms of the ability to you know, have your
kids know each other. So even if you are on
opposite side of the political spectrum, your kids probably play
some kind of sport or in some kind of art
(24:21):
or some kind of dance because we're just tiny, and
I think that helps. I think the other part that
growing up was that we always had this understanding that
people like us were always the ones in power, right,
So we grew up I mean, you know, the governors,
the senators, that's what we saw, the commissioners of tourism
for example, that I do right now. We were always
(24:42):
the one. So it always had that you had that
to tell you that I could do it. Yeah, I
could do it. I can always do it. And even
from the the athletic side, that's one of the things
we always like when athletes come in, we always want
them to talk to the kids so they could tell
the kids. Uh, let them know where they came from,
what they're doing and how they got what they got too.
(25:02):
And that's what we like to have happened. So, you know,
born and raised in Saint Thomas, still live in Saint Thomas.
I spent a lot of time in the US continental US,
but Saint Thomas is where.
Speaker 2 (25:14):
And your background is in business, government, finance. What goes
into being a commissioner of tourism.
Speaker 3 (25:20):
Well, it's interesting. You know, my my former career was
investment banking. That's how I was in New York, Okay,
and then you know I moved out to me is.
Speaker 1 (25:26):
That what imagine finance is so important when it comes to.
Speaker 3 (25:29):
It is and it's different, right, So you know people
ask me all the time, now you're going back into banking.
I was like, no, I like pretty pictures. Now I'm
in marketing, so it's totally different. And then you know,
career evolved. I did hire it for a while and
then I was in high finance and then I got
into I used to run the big cruise ship facility
in the US CEO president there and then from there
(25:50):
I was like, hey, I like to tell people how
you know, they need to have a good time. So
that's a good job to have. So that's why I've
been doing ever since.
Speaker 1 (25:57):
Well I love that. Well, thank you so much. I
appreciate you. I know every time you can, I'm here.
Speaker 2 (26:00):
Your schedule is packed, but I definitely wanted to make
sure you came through for our audience because I had
such an amazing time when we all went to Saint Thomas,
when we went to Saint John, when we were in
the US Virgin Islands, my friends and I honestly like
I needed that. It was like a celebration for me,
and so to be able to be part of Carnival,
thank you so much for welcoming.
Speaker 3 (26:18):
Thank you. I think I made it now, I made
it to weigh up. I guess the next step is
to get on the podcast.
Speaker 1 (26:24):
Oh you want to do lift service?
Speaker 3 (26:25):
No, not yet. I don't think I got I gotta
be out of this job for us, but I do
watch it and I love to you know, I was
telling Diana when we got there, Yeah, we could do it.
I was telling Diana when I watch it, you know,
I always crack up when I watch some of the
comments and the conversations. So so it's good. So thank
you for having me, and thank you for visiting the
(26:47):
us v I and hopefully we'll get you back down excellently.
Speaker 2 (26:50):
Know definitely wants to come his families from Saint John.
I'm from Saint Thomas and Saint Crois excellent, so we.
Speaker 3 (26:54):
Got to get him and uh And you know what
I could tell you is when your social media post
went up, people that I know from all over all
over the world, and you said like, oh man, how
do you get Angel? How did you get angel? Your
social media social media market? So keep doing what you're doing.
Speaker 2 (27:13):
But honestly, like I know, I get I'm always super busy,
but I'm glad that I made time for that for
myself and for anybody listening. I know a lot of
times you feel like we got to work, work, work, work,
work all the time, but it is important to like rest,
take care of yourself. That was the perfect place for
us to be able to kick back and do that.
And even though going to Carnival and Dubet was a
flurry of activities, it was really fun. It was relaxing.
(27:35):
Everybody felt so comfortable, so protected, you know, just being
in that space. So thank you so much for creating
such a great environment for us.
Speaker 3 (27:43):
Thank you.
Speaker 1 (27:44):
See you for my birthday.
Speaker 3 (27:45):
Yeah I got to day.
Speaker 2 (27:48):
Commissioner Joe, thank you, thank you.
What's up.
Speaker 2 (00:04):
It's way up with Angela Yee and I have a
really special guest and I'm excited to have you here
so we can welcome you to what we have going
on here. But Commissioner Joseph Baschalti, who is the Commissioner
for the US Virgin Islands Department of Tourism, so welcome.
Speaker 1 (00:19):
I know you've been here quite a bit.
Speaker 3 (00:20):
So I've been in the city many times. I actually
worked here three different times throughout my career. And you know,
I always appreciate coming to New York City. I love
it in the summer because there's a different kind of
energy right in the summertime. You know, people are out,
you know, fortunate to be staying right around Times Square.
So it's super busy, right. I think today's Yoga Day,
(00:41):
International Yoga Day, so it's like yoga from six o'clock
this morning, you were doing yoga. No, I was just
listening to them tell people what to do.
Speaker 1 (00:49):
I actually love yoga.
Speaker 2 (00:50):
I was telling somebody the other day when it comes
to like getting rid, if you have any back pains
or any type of like anything, yoga will cure all
of that.
Speaker 1 (00:58):
And so oh, I didn't know.
Speaker 3 (01:00):
Just try one of these days. Yeah, it didn't move me.
Speaker 1 (01:02):
Today, Okay, didn't move you all right.
Speaker 2 (01:04):
Well, I want to talk about you know, everybody saw
that we were out in St. Thomas for Carnival, and
I want to thank you because, honestly, between you and Ayana,
who is working with you and contacted us to come
out there, my friends and I were like, this is
one of the best trips we've ever been on. One
of my friends, Koya, said this was actually her favorite
trip ever.
Speaker 3 (01:22):
Nice, you know, and love to hear that.
Speaker 2 (01:24):
We really did have a great time. And I've been
to Saint Thomas quite a bit. But I want to
talk about the US Virgin Islands overall. First, so for
people listening right, for the US Virgin Islands, you don't
need a passport if you're coming from the United States
because it's.
Speaker 3 (01:37):
Part you're citizen. You're coming from the United States, No
passport necessary, okay.
Speaker 2 (01:40):
And what are the islands that are included, because you know,
we have the British Virgin Islands and then we have
the US Virgin.
Speaker 3 (01:44):
So the US Virgin Islands, three main islands of Saint
Thomas where you were for Carnival, Saint John where we
have our celebration that's happened in the last week of
June into fourth of July, fourth of July. And then
of course the biggest USBI is Saint Croix, Okay, and
that is where we have the celebration that happens right
around New Years.
Speaker 2 (02:04):
All right, and so and you know, I was there
during the pandemic, which was for me, first of all,
didn't have my passport because I had to get it renewed,
and it just wasn't happening during that time, and I
was like, I have to go somewhere.
Speaker 1 (02:17):
And I've been to Saint Thomas on a few occasions.
Speaker 2 (02:19):
I've been to Saint John as well, and so I
ended up going and spending a week in Saint John.
Speaker 1 (02:23):
And it was really nice.
Speaker 2 (02:24):
And you guys did a great job, by the way,
during COVID and during the pandemic.
Speaker 1 (02:29):
What was that like for you?
Speaker 3 (02:30):
Yeah, it was. It was stressful in the sense that
we knew our governor, Governor al but Brian, he knew
that right now seventy percent of our GDP is driven
by direct or indirect tourism. So we knew when we
shut down in March that we had to do something,
and we just couldn't stay closed. So we had conversations
with our whole commissioner and the whole COVID team, and
(02:52):
then we made an announcement that we won't reopen. So
he was like, Joe, you got to get out to
see if the airline is going to fly to us,
see if the hotels are going to be ready. Because
of course we had to protect against the residents getting sick,
and collectively we all worked together. I worked out really
really well for us. So we opened in June or
twenty and then we did extremely well, actually better than
any of us thought, because people wanted, like you wanted
(03:14):
to get.
Speaker 2 (03:14):
Away, Casper, I want to go somewhere, and we definitely stayed.
You know, we had a villa, so we definitely kind
of stayed there, but we were able to venture ound
a little bit with our masks on and go sit
outside places.
Speaker 3 (03:23):
Yeah. So we worked with our local hotels, villas, restaurants,
bars to have protocols that allow people to come and
get out if they wanted to, and I worked well.
And then we had a portal that allowed people to
have certain tests, COVID tests to come in and then
when the vaccinations came out. You could show your vaccinations
to get in, so it was well organized in terms
of what was there. And then the most important thing
(03:45):
that we found is people don't go on vacation to
get sick. So people would come in and they were
following what they had to follow.
Speaker 1 (03:51):
Yeah, we are not playing those games.
Speaker 3 (03:53):
And we want to coming out so.
Speaker 1 (03:54):
You don't have to isolate somewhere, right, So.
Speaker 3 (03:57):
It worked out really really well. We did extremely well
and terms of our tourism product and a whole they
kept us up and then we were fortunate enough that
our numbers didn't spike.
Speaker 1 (04:09):
Like some of the other places.
Speaker 3 (04:11):
So we had a couple of spikes like around busy
times Thanksgiving and Christmas time, but they weren't totally out
of control. And I think a lot of that had
to do with, you know, people really following the protocols
and people who got sick, you know, our team was
ready to deal with them, and I mean on the
health care side. And then you know, as we continue
to get more people vaccinated, that helped in terms of
(04:35):
you know, keeping the numbers down. And then throughout the
as we moved from you know, the earlier stages of
the COVID time. Then we moved into having the portal,
and then we moved out of the portal as things changed.
And we've been fortunate enough to be here in twenty
twenty four and our tourism product is doing extremely well.
So thank you and everybody else that helps us promote
(04:55):
what a great vacation time you can have any usb.
Speaker 2 (04:58):
You know, one of my first vacations ever was to
Saint Thomas. And I know I told you this offline previously,
but my best friend from carlis Auntie Gold. Her family
they would rent a villa. It was like all the
way on top of this mountain. Every year they're like,
you can come, just get your flight and come with us.
And when I tell you like for me to have
that as my first vacation, it was one of the
(05:19):
most amazing experiences that.
Speaker 1 (05:22):
I ever had.
Speaker 2 (05:22):
And I know I told you this before. We went
to go to Greenhouse and Greenhouse is still there. This
was so long ago, but I just remember going to
a party at Greenhouse and having like the time of
my life. Cause it's one in Saint Martin also, and
then one in Saint Thomas, and then the shopping in St.
Thomas has always been amazing.
Speaker 3 (05:38):
Yeah, I think that's That's one of the things that
we feel really good about is that we have places
like the Greenhouse has been around for decades that still
offers the same laid back island experience. Of course, the
shopping still does really well, particularly on the cruise ship side,
so lots of people come in, particularly to shop in
Saint Thomas especially, and that's been working really well. And
(05:59):
of course you mentioned and the mountains, right, so we
have lots of villas and houses on the tops of mountains.
I have a funny story with one of my old
business school mats that came down with me one time
and we were in the Greenhouse funny enough, and I
was like, it goes down. I was like, dude, I'm
getting ready to leave. He's like, don't worry about it.
I'm gonna get to the house. I was like, you
know what the house is. He said, yeah, it's right
up in the mountain. I'll just get there. I was
like what, But he did, no, he did it. I
(06:23):
ended up staying with him because you know, the mountains
in the night, you really don't know, especially you you
don't know where you're going.
Speaker 1 (06:30):
And one thing I do love about it what you
just said.
Speaker 2 (06:32):
It is Also it feels like very safe to me,
And that's a big deal for me as a woman
when I'm traveling and I think about, like where can
I go where I'm not going to be like I'm
stuck on the resort. I can't go anywhere when I
go there. You know, there's a lot of we went to.
What was the restaurant we went to, Ayana is a
black owned restaurant. It was the Welcome Dinner Rendezvous. Yes,
we went to Rendezvous. When I tell you like that waterfront, Yeah,
(06:56):
that was beautiful.
Speaker 3 (06:57):
Yeah. I think I think one of the things that
we we because been a big tourism destination for a
long time. I think our residents one respect tourists visitors
because they understand how important it's our economy. Secondly, and
more importantly, we want tourists to be safe, right, because
if you're not safe, then it impacts the quality of
(07:17):
life for all of us. So there's always this understanding
of uh with tourists for the most part, uh, leave
them alone. Yeah, they helped their help to help keep
keep all of us living.
Speaker 1 (07:29):
Everybody was friendly though, And I think the.
Speaker 3 (07:32):
Third thing that we do is we respect your privacy.
So people know you and they know of you, and
if you want to engage, they'll engage. If you don't
really want to engage or you're doing your own thing,
they'd be like, oh yeah, essentially, yo, she's so cool,
and then they'll just kind of go about our merry
business and engaging.
Speaker 2 (07:46):
While I was out there, because we were so first
of all, love the hotel that we stayed at. Every
when I tell you, like, everything was perfectly planned and
laid out for us.
Speaker 1 (07:57):
But we did go to Juve.
Speaker 2 (07:59):
And I know you were saying earlier that like, I
don't know how y'all do it to be out like that,
because we woke up at five in the morning to
get up and go party all day and it was
like the hottest day.
Speaker 1 (08:08):
It was like one hundred and something degrees.
Speaker 2 (08:10):
But I will say, like, just to see everybody outside,
all different ages, everybody dress however they wanted to dress,
even the people who were working and like cleaning the street,
they were dancing partying. I was like, Okay, this is
a total vibe. Like it felt very you know, it
felt very unifying for me to be able to you know,
I launched the show. I've been working really hard. I
(08:30):
haven't been on a vacation, and so when Randy up
here at I Heeart was like, would you be down
to go to you know the same time as Carnival,
I was like, sign me up.
Speaker 3 (08:39):
That's great. Well maybe next year, maybe would bring the
way up down to the USVI next year.
Speaker 1 (08:43):
Listen, I have plans, trust me and commission to Joe.
You're here for a reason. We have big plans.
Speaker 2 (08:48):
But I really like when I get to go somewhere
and then I can like encourage people, you know, because
people will ask you, like, where's a good place to
go on vacation. It was great for a girl's trip,
you know, just for for the ladies listening my friends.
Only some hot guys out here too, so they enjoyed
themselves with that part. But we also what we did
that I really love was we went to Saint John
(09:09):
for the day and we went to Trunk Bay, which
was voted the number one beach in the world out
of all the beaches they had the top fifty beaches
and Trunk Bay was number one on that list.
Speaker 3 (09:18):
Yeah, we're really proud of it. We have beautiful beaches
all over the USBI and Saint John has probably the
most pretty beaches in a small little island that I
can think of. And I've traveled all over the Caribbean
and Trunk Bay is just one of them. I mean,
I don't know how many beaches you went to when
you want Saint John just that one.
Speaker 1 (09:39):
But next week to get back to Carnival, Yeah, exactly.
Speaker 3 (09:41):
The next time, we'll get you around on the boat
so you could visit them from the water side and
come into the beaches, which is a totally different experience
than when you come from the land side and go
to the beach and leave. But we were happy. Trunk
Bay has been iconic for many, many years. If you
look at some of the posters of the USBI over
the years and ma gazines, Trunk Bait is the is
the spot that they use a lot, from the under
(10:04):
Underground Museum to all of the other things that you
have on the beach itself, and just the pure beauty
of it. Uh. It still almost has that innocent fear
when you go there, even though you know thousands of
people go there every.
Speaker 2 (10:15):
Year and you've done a great jab you guys have
spacing out like the events so you know, I was
at Saint Thomas Carnival and right now in Saint John
they're having the Saint John Celebration right which you were
talking about.
Speaker 3 (10:27):
That kicks off similarly, you know six Days in the Village,
which is our nightly music festival that's free, where we
have the best acts from around the world, Soca reggae,
uh and then we we what we've added over the
last year as.
Speaker 2 (10:41):
The band Patrice Viberts, A Dextadabs, Bungee, Garland, Richie Spice.
Speaker 3 (10:45):
You got it. All of those we bring in. White
Cleff is gonna be in Saint John. So that's so
what we've been trying to do is since we do
these carnival events and we're almost trying to make a
music festival, so you have to really have different types
of people. So we the Vito and Saint Croix last year.
Now we got White Cliff, We had Shaggy in St. Thomas,
(11:07):
which who was a crossover.
Speaker 1 (11:08):
Artist, Shaggy.
Speaker 3 (11:10):
So we've been doing it and people. What it also
does is it allows different kind of people from all
sorts of race, religion, ages to come out and like
you mentioned in Juvid and just be part of a
vibe and we love it.
Speaker 2 (11:24):
And those white people were getting down to I just
want to say I was on there. I got some
videos those white people was losing their minds at Duvet.
Speaker 1 (11:32):
But I did love to see it. You know.
Speaker 2 (11:35):
It was all, like you said, all different kinds of people.
They were young people. They were like little babies out
on you know, on shoulders.
Speaker 3 (11:40):
You know, we got to get that culture in you
from early.
Speaker 1 (11:43):
Listen the kids were dancing.
Speaker 2 (11:45):
I was like, this is honestly like to feel like
it's a family thing.
Speaker 1 (11:49):
It's all everybody respecting each other.
Speaker 2 (11:52):
And I didn't feel like anything, felt like something was
about to go down, you know how we are. I'm
from Brooklyn, so you see somebody push all of a sudden,
everybody start.
Speaker 1 (12:00):
It was nothing like that.
Speaker 3 (12:01):
Now, I think. I think that that was one of
the probably the proudest parts of this entire carnival. We
didn't have any major violent incidents. And I give kudos
to our legal team, excuse me, our police departments and
all the planning because we do have a philosophy which
is uh to prevent. So we made sure that you know,
(12:22):
when you went out there, the law enforcements was all around.
Speaker 1 (12:25):
And I tried to go to the bathroom.
Speaker 2 (12:26):
I was like, you guys, no, no, no, we got
to You can't just walk around like that.
Speaker 3 (12:30):
So so that law enforcements was around and that helps.
And I think people also recognize that when you do
act up at these big cultural events, that means that's
it for you if you get caught, right, So people
people just just say, well, it's.
Speaker 1 (12:44):
Not worth it because it is a good time.
Speaker 2 (12:45):
People are drinking, and sometimes that can lead to you know,
people have been drinking like all day from five in
the morning, and as you mentioned.
Speaker 3 (12:52):
It was hot, so drinking and the sun doesn't doesn't
help either. But you know, I think there was also
you know, we we also have the water trucks, right,
so if you're not gonna drink it, then we just
spray you with water.
Speaker 1 (13:01):
Yeah. I saw that too.
Speaker 2 (13:02):
Nobody cared about their here by the way, all right,
and then let's talk about Saint Curix because that carnival
is the last week of December and it goes through
January fifth. And by the way, my birthday is January third,
just that I put that out there. But what's happening
for Saint Croix because we talked about Saint John, We
talked about Saint Thomas, but Saint cry is coming up next.
Speaker 3 (13:20):
Yeah, that's a cruising Christmas festival. Wonderful opportunity for people
that are looking to spend New Year somewhere different. So
Saint Croix is that place. Uh. We have the same
type of nightly events with world class acts every night
for free for you to come out to see in
our village favor. There's a juve that that happens, which is,
you know, for the people that may not know. That's
(13:41):
where the bands go out and play on trucks and
people tramp or or dance along the trucks.
Speaker 1 (13:48):
And but don't mean nothing good here. They dance.
Speaker 3 (13:52):
They they dance up this the quote unquote route. And
then of course we have a parade, and I think
you were in the parade. Yeah, in the parade where
everybody gets dressed and they wear their costumes and they
dance and have fun for like four or five hours.
Speaker 2 (14:06):
It felt longer than that. And I just want to
point out and not to call you out. Commission to Joe.
We were outside walking on that street and then we
stopped at your office.
Speaker 1 (14:15):
It was nice air conditioning. You looked very cool.
Speaker 2 (14:18):
I was like, how come Commissioner Joe is not out
here in his costume.
Speaker 3 (14:21):
I had my years at that back in the day,
so I'm past that. Now I got an excuse. Now
I'm working. I gotta oversee everything.
Speaker 1 (14:27):
But no, you're right.
Speaker 2 (14:28):
That was honestly, like so much fun just walking along
and everybody's dancing and having a good time.
Speaker 1 (14:33):
It was wild. I don't know if I could do
the whole route. I think, like, we got to start, but.
Speaker 3 (14:37):
You know, it's like everything else, you gotta build up.
So you did Sat Thomas. Every time you get to
Saint Croix and then back to Saint Thomas, you'd be
a proven fetter all around.
Speaker 1 (14:46):
Now.
Speaker 2 (14:47):
The other thing I saw, I book a lout of
my travel also on Expedia and expedia dot como so
ranks Saint Thomas the number one trending domestic summer destination.
Speaker 3 (14:56):
Yeah, that was another huge, huge wind for to be
in all of these destinations that people could go through
go through. You know, we actually number one for the world,
number one domestic, but we were very very happy. It
goes to show the work that our team has been doing.
People have been following, we've been very focus on how
we market and who we market to. And what we've
(15:19):
seen is people really are appreciating the opportunity to go
to the USBI because people could go anywhere to vacation, right,
it's your money, you decide where you want to go,
and people have been coming to the USVII. And then
to have Expedia who you know, we know the thousands
of people a book a day on Expedia now to
say hey, you know when they're searching out like Saint
Thomas is popping up. Saint Thomas is popping up. So
(15:39):
we feel really good about it. What I can tell
you is our summer so far has been very, very impressive.
Our flights are coming in full, the cruise ships are
coming in full. So USBI is really trending in the
right direction. And that's why we continue to try to
find people like you who've been there before, but to
(16:01):
come back now and share with people the experiences because
I think a lot of us when we travel, particularly
for vacation, you know, we always want that inside track,
right been there before you like.
Speaker 1 (16:13):
You know, the best restaurants.
Speaker 3 (16:16):
And I think that's been helping us a lot. And
I think we also have had we've been moving our
brand into more national, big places. So we we have
a deal with the New York Jets the game, so
we have a mess light and then we do the
same thing in the Boston area with the Red Sox.
Speaker 1 (16:35):
Down New York and Boston.
Speaker 3 (16:36):
Yeah, with different sports, with different sports.
Speaker 1 (16:38):
Okay, I just got to make sure because you know
how we feel.
Speaker 3 (16:41):
About That's just one the other night.
Speaker 1 (16:43):
Sir, we didn't.
Speaker 3 (16:44):
Okay, but you know, I know they do. I know
they do. I see it, I feel it when I'm around. Okay,
but but we do do it because you know, we
fly we fly jets in for more than just to
try area, so we gotta do a little something Logan
and from over here, and those those partnerships have really
(17:06):
helped us take our brand to a completely different level
because now people see us in this and they see
us affiliated with very loyal fan bases. So the Jets,
of course have a very Loyd fan base. You know,
hopefully they see Aaron Rogers Rogers plays more than four snaps.
Speaker 1 (17:21):
If not, they can go hang out in Saint Croix.
Speaker 3 (17:23):
That's what we've taken on that.
Speaker 2 (17:26):
And and speaking of getting there right the flight situation,
I feel like that's also something that is particularly easy
for us to be able to do. So let's talk
about getting to because really I always fly in the
Saint Thomas right when we go to Saint John.
Speaker 1 (17:41):
We and I learned this.
Speaker 2 (17:42):
I think, I don't know if you told me this,
but last time I took the car on the ferry.
I don't recommend that, Okay, if you drive like I do.
I was so scared because you have to like back
the car. But it's good to have the car. It
is when you get that, but you can Somebody was like,
just rent a car when you get to Saint John
next time.
Speaker 3 (17:57):
It is an experience when they back you up onto
the bar in these little tiny little.
Speaker 2 (18:01):
Spaces and they don't back you got to back yourself
with And there was too much of a precious situation
for me because.
Speaker 3 (18:06):
People are watching you.
Speaker 2 (18:06):
Yeah, they're watching you, and they're like, go ahead, and
then you got to go over to I was like,
oh my god, I'm so nervous. I don't want to
hit a car because it's like fasted and tight.
Speaker 3 (18:14):
But but you know, we we have flights in from
from the tri City, are from Nork and jfk Less
than four hours in. Of course, we fly from Logan
in Boston and Atlanta and Charlotte, and multiple flights today.
Speaker 1 (18:26):
From Orlando from Lando.
Speaker 3 (18:28):
People were coming from Orlando and the Saint Croix from
from Atlanta and Orlando.
Speaker 1 (18:34):
And so there's direct flights to Saint Croix too.
Speaker 3 (18:36):
Yeah, direct flights in the Saint Croix too, So so
the easy ways to get in there. And as you
mentioned in the beginning, there's no passport necessary. So we
know when we take a guy's trip, or you take
a family trip or a girls trip, there's always that
one person that doesn't have that passport, like, oh yeah,
I think I got to renew it and then you
got to change now. But once you come to the
US virgional that's not that's not an issue.
Speaker 1 (18:54):
There's nothing worse than when that passed.
Speaker 2 (18:56):
When you look at your passport and you're like, oh
my god, I didn't realize my passport was about to expire.
Speaker 1 (19:01):
Is expired.
Speaker 2 (19:02):
So yes, that's a belief to not have to think
about that, all right. And then I want to ask
you this just for my own knowledge, no real reason,
recreational marijuana.
Speaker 1 (19:12):
Where are we with that in the Louis Virgin Islands.
Speaker 3 (19:15):
Well, we have we probably have our fair share recreational
marijuana that's not legal yet right happening in the island.
Speaker 2 (19:20):
But you know, I want people to know when you're traveling,
you need to know what the rules are because it's
been legal in so many places.
Speaker 3 (19:26):
It is legal for medicinal now, and our governor has
been a strong proponent to get it to be on
the recreational side. So we have lots of rules and regulations.
It's working its way through the process. I think that
especially what's going on now in the world and people
are finally now appreciating the medicinal benefits of cannabis that
that probably were around for a long time. Would we just,
(19:48):
you know, for whatever reason is the legal system didn't
allow for it to be used where it is now,
So we do have it. It's in place. I think
it's a hope. Excuse me that one of the things
that came out of it was that they could help
the tourism piece in the nih market space that people
come in, they know, could they could get you know,
legal legal cannabis. So it's in play. We're not where
(20:12):
we thought we would be probably three years ago. But
the good thing is just a couple of months ago,
they brought in a new director to market. They brought
in some pieces fill out the board, so the steps
necessary to at least get it to the place where
it can be legal happening.
Speaker 2 (20:27):
Okay, good because nothing like being a yea villa yep, relaxing,
all right. And then I also see that you guys
have this tech Beach conference happening, So talk to me
about that because I think that's something that's going to
be amazing and it's focused on AI.
Speaker 3 (20:40):
Yeah, so that's going on right now. I think it
started out. I think the opening reception.
Speaker 1 (20:43):
Was last night, and it's the first time they've done
this in the US.
Speaker 3 (20:46):
V I yes, and it's it's this group of people
that are basically big into tech, and of course AI
is one of the hot pieces of that space right now.
And they bring all these incredible mind together and they
work by day thinking about how they're going to make
all of us smarter, I guess, and then.
Speaker 1 (21:07):
Night that's easier, right, and then at.
Speaker 3 (21:09):
Night they enjoy what we have to offer as a
Caribbean destination. So what I heard, it seems to be
going well. And then texted me last night to say
it was pouring rain, but they moved inside and the
party didn't stop.
Speaker 1 (21:21):
It was pouring rain and we were there, but we
still have fun.
Speaker 2 (21:24):
Yeah, I will say it was pooring, but it'll rain
for like twenty minutes and then stop and then stop
and we still had you know, still have a time.
Speaker 3 (21:31):
So so it's been it's so from that standpoint, the
techt something and we've been doing really well with a
lot of these conferences that have been coming in. Now
people coming in, they enjoy themselves. They're saying at the
same property that you say that when you were down.
Speaker 1 (21:43):
Loved then the food was amazing there too, food was amazing.
Speaker 3 (21:45):
So so they're doing it. I think it's good for
us in the sense too that they wanted to come
to the USVII, so they've been hearing about the USB.
I have been seeing about USVII. And then the other
thing for us as a tangent type business is we
want people to come and and then think about, hey,
you know I could I could, I could have a
second home, man, I could come back here with my family,
I could do these things. Because that's the other side
(22:06):
of having a good time is then you start to
figure out, now, this might be my destination, destination to
come and then you get to retirement age, it might
be some place to think about. And all of these
things happen with that first seed planet of you actually
going there and liking it, right, because you know, we
know what happens if you go and you don't like it,
then you don't go back.
Speaker 1 (22:23):
You tell everybody don't go.
Speaker 2 (22:24):
You know. It's also true that you can like a
place or not like a place depending on who you
go with. Because I've had people not like and I've
been like, oh my god, I have so much fun.
I love it there, and then I've had people be
like I can't stand it. I'm like, come with me
and we'll have a good time. And I do think
it really does matter a lot who you're with and who.
Like you said, people also want the inside track what
to do.
Speaker 3 (22:42):
You know. That's why my people tall me, oh my gosh,
you know, commission I have my honeymoon here. I say
you're still married, because that would determined whether or not.
Speaker 2 (22:52):
Oh I'm not gonna say, but like the last time
I came here with my husband, I ain't with him.
Speaker 3 (22:56):
No more exactly. But it's like.
Speaker 2 (22:59):
Recreating something new and like setting the groundwork for you know,
for you to really love someplace and get rid of
those old memories exactly.
Speaker 3 (23:08):
Create some new ones.
Speaker 1 (23:08):
Yeah, create some new ones, you know what I'm saying. Now,
what was it like for you? Where did you grow up?
Speaker 3 (23:12):
I grew up on Saint Thomas.
Speaker 1 (23:13):
Okay, what was that like?
Speaker 3 (23:15):
I was great? I mean, you know, it's interest and
I have two kids, and you know, most of the
time when I grew up, you know, everything was outside,
so so you know, all the fruits and being in
the yards and playing ball outside, that's what we did. Uh.
And you know, the sun and the heat was all
part of the experience growing up in the Caribbean. So
it's interesting now when I talk to parents who tell me,
you know, it's too hot outside of the kids, like,
(23:36):
are you kidding me? Exactly? So we have those conversations.
But it was, it was, it was, it was, you know,
it was truly that village experience. So all your friends'
parents knew who you were. It was those days that
that you know, you got in trouble in school, your
parents would probably know you got in trouble in school
before you got home to tell them. That's how connected
(23:57):
we were as.
Speaker 1 (23:58):
It takes the community.
Speaker 3 (24:00):
And I think even now, you know, we still have
a lot of that because we're small, you know, and
I have forty five thousand people in Saint Thomas, Saint John,
forty five thousand people in Saint Croix, So we're tiny
in terms of the ability to you know, have your
kids know each other. So even if you are on
opposite side of the political spectrum, your kids probably play
some kind of sport or in some kind of art
(24:21):
or some kind of dance because we're just tiny, and
I think that helps. I think the other part that
growing up was that we always had this understanding that
people like us were always the ones in power, right,
So we grew up I mean, you know, the governors,
the senators, that's what we saw, the commissioners of tourism
for example, that I do right now. We were always
(24:42):
the one. So it always had that you had that
to tell you that I could do it. Yeah, I
could do it. I can always do it. And even
from the the athletic side, that's one of the things
we always like when athletes come in, we always want
them to talk to the kids so they could tell
the kids. Uh, let them know where they came from,
what they're doing and how they got what they got too.
(25:02):
And that's what we like to have happened. So, you know,
born and raised in Saint Thomas, still live in Saint Thomas.
I spent a lot of time in the US continental US,
but Saint Thomas is where.
Speaker 2 (25:14):
And your background is in business, government, finance. What goes
into being a commissioner of tourism.
Speaker 3 (25:20):
Well, it's interesting. You know, my my former career was
investment banking. That's how I was in New York, Okay,
and then you know I moved out to me is.
Speaker 1 (25:26):
That what imagine finance is so important when it comes to.
Speaker 3 (25:29):
It is and it's different, right, So you know people
ask me all the time, now you're going back into banking.
I was like, no, I like pretty pictures. Now I'm
in marketing, so it's totally different. And then you know,
career evolved. I did hire it for a while and
then I was in high finance and then I got
into I used to run the big cruise ship facility
in the US CEO president there and then from there
(25:50):
I was like, hey, I like to tell people how
you know, they need to have a good time. So
that's a good job to have. So that's why I've
been doing ever since.
Speaker 1 (25:57):
Well I love that. Well, thank you so much. I
appreciate you. I know every time you can, I'm here.
Speaker 2 (26:00):
Your schedule is packed, but I definitely wanted to make
sure you came through for our audience because I had
such an amazing time when we all went to Saint Thomas,
when we went to Saint John, when we were in
the US Virgin Islands, my friends and I honestly like
I needed that. It was like a celebration for me,
and so to be able to be part of Carnival,
thank you so much for welcoming.
Speaker 3 (26:18):
Thank you. I think I made it now, I made
it to weigh up. I guess the next step is
to get on the podcast.
Speaker 1 (26:24):
Oh you want to do lift service?
Speaker 3 (26:25):
No, not yet. I don't think I got I gotta
be out of this job for us, but I do
watch it and I love to you know, I was
telling Diana when we got there, Yeah, we could do it.
I was telling Diana when I watch it, you know,
I always crack up when I watch some of the
comments and the conversations. So so it's good. So thank
you for having me, and thank you for visiting the
(26:47):
us v I and hopefully we'll get you back down excellently.
Speaker 2 (26:50):
Know definitely wants to come his families from Saint John.
I'm from Saint Thomas and Saint Crois excellent, so we.
Speaker 3 (26:54):
Got to get him and uh And you know what
I could tell you is when your social media post
went up, people that I know from all over all
over the world, and you said like, oh man, how
do you get Angel? How did you get angel? Your
social media social media market? So keep doing what you're doing.
Speaker 2 (27:13):
But honestly, like I know, I get I'm always super busy,
but I'm glad that I made time for that for
myself and for anybody listening. I know a lot of
times you feel like we got to work, work, work, work,
work all the time, but it is important to like rest,
take care of yourself. That was the perfect place for
us to be able to kick back and do that.
And even though going to Carnival and Dubet was a
flurry of activities, it was really fun. It was relaxing.
(27:35):
Everybody felt so comfortable, so protected, you know, just being
in that space. So thank you so much for creating
such a great environment for us.
Speaker 3 (27:43):
Thank you.
Speaker 1 (27:44):
See you for my birthday.
Speaker 3 (27:45):
Yeah I got to day.
Speaker 2 (27:48):
Commissioner Joe, thank you, thank you.
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