 Hello and welcome to TV 30 a production of the national television network and the government information service I am your host Kendall Eugene and today with me is a tourism officer Samantha Charles from the Ministry of Tourism Investment Creative Industries Culture and Information Samantha welcome. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you for being here. We have a lot to talk about Yes, we do especially with regards to the nation's young people When I saw what came through my email I was most pleased and then I realized with the age limit has a long eclipsed me I cannot even participate So the Ministry of Tourism is currently preparing to host the 2023 National tourism public speaking competition. That's right. And you also have a selection for the Junior tourism the junior Minister of Tourism. That is right. Okay. So we have two big things to talk about. Yes It's kind of bundled up in one, but we have it in phases. Okay. All right. Let's chat about that now Phase one. What phase one all about? Okay. So good. Good day, everyone so phase one of the competition is What we call a pre-selection so that as a to give some background the national tourism Public speaking competition is an education initiative that the Ministry has hosted For a couple years now. So way before I joined the ministry. So it's actually a staple on our calendar of events. Okay, so what we sought to do was to Sort of diversify it a bit make it a little more interesting to generate more interest from our student population primarily our secondary school students. So as a pre Precursor or pre-selection phase towards the actual national tourism public speaking competition The ministry is once again opening out or sign out a call to students ages 14 to 17 to Submit a TikTok video. We did so last year and we're doing it again this year, but under Two different themes or headings. So that the intention of the TikTok video is to really tap into the creativity of our students and To a certain extent to test their knowledge about the tourism product. So there are two areas whereby students can Choose to submit that TikTok video one They can choose to design a top package for a celebrity of their choice Incorporating as many of our tourism Product offerings as possible or they may opt for the second option, which is to prepare a TikTok video identifying Must-do's in St. Lucia. So things you really need to do when you come to, you know, 758 So the I'm most interested in the top package for a celebrity Right, because if I were to do one, I would possibly select basketball player from the Spurs who is a Caribbean man from a basketball player Tim Duncan and of course design that package highlighting beautiful sports in St. Lucia How long must the video be if I want to do one? Okay, so the video must be 90 seconds long So we We expect that within that time frame the student has sufficient Space to incorporate as much as possible in terms of our product I mean, you know, we are the best Caribbean island, you know That is a given and there's lots to explore lots to experience lots to love and many reasons for you to come back So we expect that our culinary elements will be incorporated in that video our sights and attractions Accommodation we have Soft adventure recreation, etc. So like I said earlier, it would really give us an idea as to the students knowledge of our Core tourism products and services and how they could utilize that in Marketing St. Lucia from a youth perspective and yes, they can opt to choose any celebrity of their choice Does it have to be an international celebrity or local celebrity? I'm not local of course. It can be local because they would know our Yes, it's all left to the students. Yeah in doing the TikTok videos We see that a lot of the creativity really comes out with how they produce the video You can see the transitions and everything. What are you guys looking for in that? Are you looking for the best to do for just the video that highlights in Lucia? We're looking for the video that highlights the core elements of our product But as well we're looking at in judging the video Once we've gotten all the selections in we're looking at execution. We're looking at creativity in terms of using sound etc. So Like we said before the interview started the young persons are way more creative than you and I So there are apps that can we use the you know, they they are resource persons They can utilize to produce their videos. So when we do get to judging and we will have a compliment of Creatives in addition to other resource persons in the industry to judge There, you know, we will Judge those videos against a creative benchmark and to see who has the best and who Moves forward to the next step of the competition. So Students who are interested in submitting their 90 second the TikTok video Where can they head on to on the social media platforms to get more information? Okay, when does it really roll out? Okay, so we do have no facial Launch coming up, but this interview is sort of like a precursor and The students can feel free to contact the Ministry of Tourism 468 for six to nine or four six eight five five three nine five excuse me to get more information in Setting the plan together. We did engage the Ministry of Education So the competition has gotten endorsement from education We have sent out correspondence to the district offices and the respective secondary schools Many of which have gotten acknowledgement of receipt to date. So that the Awareness has already started filtering down to the school. So the the the students would have eventually if not now They will eventually get wind of the competition by their schools and in addition to the correspondence We have attached the the official flyer for the tiktok competition. We did put together very creative and Informative flyer. So each secondary school would have gotten the flyer so that the students can see The idea with the tiktok video especially being able to leave at a top package for my favorite celebrity and Put it in the must do's in St. Lucia. Can we integrate both of them or it has to be either one or it's just to give Them an option. Okay, so it depends on the students Preference you could if you have a favorite celebrity you often have more and if you don't So it's it's basically up to the students, but you cannot merge it at two. So we want to see How many times can I enter the competition once you can only submit one tiktok video and Like I said the videos will be judged based on a criteria and then the top ten students Move on to the national tourism public speaking competition, which is said scheduled for June 2023 all right now we will be chatting more about the Tourism public speaking competition in a little bit because I'm again. I realize that I have long eclipsed the age to enter but there's something that is very very very exciting about the tourism public speaking competition that we have to highlight and It has to do with a location And I'm reading that and I'm seeing that These individuals have been traveling very far. Yes, they are public speaking. Yes, so the the Location is actually for the the third leg of the entire Education right initiative will come to that in a little while we need to take a break right now ladies and gentlemen This is TV 30. I am your host Kenner Eugene today. We have with us a Samantha Charles We just spoke about our tiktok competition. You'll come back and chat about public speaking in just a bit stay with us Welcome back to TV 30, of course, we have with us here We're with us this afternoon is a Samantha Charles about that again. Thank you so much for joining us and Just before we got back from our break, we were discussing Public speaking and how fight has taken so many of our young people and that's part two of what? We're going to be chatting about today Before we get into the location that I am so excited to tell you guys about let's talk about the National tourism public speaking competition that is set for June this year. Yes June 15th, okay, so the public speaking competition is The next phase of the entire education initiative Okay, so following from the tiktok competition the videos will be judged and the top 10 The students in the top 10 videos they move on to the next round of competition Which is the national tourism public speaking competition Which is what we've had every year for many years, but COVID when COVID came about we had to put on a back burner So that competition will again Judge the students ability to research on relevant tourism related topics and present those topics present Recommendations for strengthening the industry, etc. So we would be given a total of five topics based on relevant tourism themes or you know what is currently trending in tourism and Each of those 10 finalists will then choose a topic of their choice to present at the Competition on June 15th, okay, so they would have sufficient time to research and The students also get a lot of assistance from their teachers in preparing their presentation for the public speaking competition They are judged by industry Professionals and persons in the tourism industry So it's a little more rigorous than the tiktok competition But it then prepares them for the next phase, which is actually the CTO Youth Congress later on in the year Okay, so I read that they're supposed to submit videos for the public speaking competition, is that still something that is going to happen this year? We've not actually Looked at it from that angle, but for now we just have the The the questions that they will be it could be any any mixture of questions Not fine to it yet, but we're working on the proper execution of that particular components of the industry You're targeting of the competition You're targeting various age groups for that competition as well. What age group are we looking at? 14 to 17 and from inception we need to stick with that age group because that is the age group that CTO Stipulates for the Youth Congress Unfortunately, we cannot deviate from that because we need to ensure that our representative Followed in that age group. So it's 14 to 17 year olds Will any form of training be given to these young speakers after they have gone through the process of selection? Yes, okay, so we intend to have some training for the finalists prior to the public speaking competition and you know strengthening their skills you know Diction, department, eye contact, all of those areas that are critical to proper public speaking and as well we intend to have Session or two for the winner of the public speaking competition, which will be our junior minister of tourism So prior to representing St. Lucia at the Youth Congress later in the year We will have about two sessions for that individual to ensure that we send off Best that we have to represent us Regionally later in the year now we have had a few representatives. Oh, yes, we've had a number we've We had our current junior minister of tourism JC Thomas Represented us in the Cayman Islands last year We've had stellar representation from all our prior junior ministers We've had representation from Francis Alexander who actually won in Grenada in 2017 So he merged victorious among 13 other junior ministers and commissioners of tourism. So Some some Caribbean countries they have commissioners of tourism. So, you know, there's some of a difference in them and Clitcher, right? We've had Rowan Alfred Blossom frieges, Ian Vestiza I think a lot of persons know when yes before I came to the ministry is one of the Junior ministers at that time. So we've had very very good representation from our Junior ministers and there's no doubt that whoever emerges victorious this year will Represent us in similar fashion. How important is it to the ministry to ensure that not only do we get the best representation but the young people are given the opportunity to represent the island on a mission such as CTO. I think it's critical. A lot of the times you you see the stakeholder representatives The ministers and other persons in the industry speaking about our tourism sector Speaking on behalf of the end of the sector speaking on behalf of the people articulating the policies and articulating the the best way forward for the growth of our of our industry So it's always refreshing to have the viewpoint of our our younger persons to you know, just to see How best they understand the industry from their perspective, especially You have a lot of young persons who with family members parents aunts uncles Who's lively who depends on tourism? So it's always nice to Header thoughts on tourism and to have a voice from the youth perspective on matters that pertain to The tourism industry the youth perspective something that is so important Extremely every so now we're going to chat about the Caribbean tourism organization youth comrades, right? That was the one that really had me Blushing a little bit you way you want to go I wouldn't mind I wouldn't mind after you all here where individuals have been and Representing the island on such stages grand stages like that one the 2023 CTO Youth Congress is One that we are looking forward to getting our representatives up there representing us very very well. Tell us about the Congress your Congress, okay So as I articulated that is sort of the the climax of community in factor after you've done the tick tock the public speaking This is the the first official Duty of our junior minister of tourism, okay So the youth Congress is the initiative of the CTO Caribbean tourism organization and it takes place every year in a different Caribbean island and it brings together junior ministers commissioners of tourism to deliberate on Tourism related topics that affect not just individual countries But the region yeah, and it is actually part of the wider state of the industry conference where you have Tourism stakeholders on a different platform discuss major tourism issues such as airlift etc Product development so the youth Congress is a component of that okay, and We've had representation. I mentioned a few names in terms of the islands. We've had representation in Martinique curasouce and Thomas Greenneader came in last year Bahamas etc But this year the youth Congress is going to be held in the Turks and cakers so our young persons out there if You know nothing else captures your interest The the fact that we go into the youth Congress is going to be held in Turks and cakers that should nothing else ring a bell or you jog you to take part in the competition and There are different topics that the participants should Prepare on for this year. One of the topics is wellness tourism There's accessibility tourism and building a resilient and sustainable tourism workforce. So We actually try to mirror the The the thematic areas of the youth Congress So again looking at relevant themes and trending topics in tourism things that pertain to the now and then you know Questions formulated around those teams will talk about the topic in just a little while I want to know more about that. I told you I was brushing for a reason took something cause is the venue That is where the youth Tourism and master will be heading but we'll chat about that in a little bit. We'll take a break be right back with multi-level team The world's climate is changing and that affects all of us Storms are becoming increasingly intense periods of intense drought and heavy rain stress farm animals and destroy our cross higher average ocean temperatures kill our coral reefs and Change the migratory patterns of fish St. Lucia contributes only zero point zero zero one five percent of global greenhouse gas emissions But is doing its part along with countries around the world to reduce the emissions that are warming our world and changing our Climate these efforts are called Mitigation but decades of emissions have already changed the climate and the greenhouse gases in the atmosphere today will increase Average global temperatures even more. We need to adapt that is do everything we can to prepare for and Respond to the actual and expected negative effects of climate change and everyone has a role to play We need to protect our crops build homes that withstand storms and keep our drains and waterways Free of garbage to help us recover or bounce back from climatic events learn more about the government of St. Lucia's national adaptation plan and the steps you can take to protect yourself and your fellow St. Lucia's Welcome back to TV 30 a production of the NTN and the GIS I am here with the Samantha Charles from the Ministry of Tourism and we're chatting today about CTO we also chatting about youth Congress We've brought it to your attention that there is a massive tiktok video competition going on that you need to be a part of why Some lucky person is going to be representing our beautiful island in Twix and Geckos, right? If nothing tickles your memory on how to get this video done that should That should so we were chatting about the topics on Serious topics that would be put forward to our our representatives Run us through them one more time. Correct. Okay, so as I was saying the CTO has put forward three questions for students to choose Wellness tourism accessibility tourism or building a resilient and sustainable tourism workforce and again looking at themes that are relevant to tourism in this this era and to see how best the students can Put information to get and present on it. But in addition to The prepared questions is what you call the mystery round. Okay, where students are tested on how fast they could think on their feet So the mystery round question is one minute one minute response on a topic neither Student would have had knowledge about and then they're Judged on that as well. So that in addition to the questions Combined, you know, just the winner is Chosen from now these topics of course are given well in advance. So the topics were submitted The end of January from CTO. Okay, so the students have the opportunity to do research on it. Yes You mentioned that they could get the help from the teachers I remember when I did public speaking while I was at secondary school Our teachers did assist us, but they ensured that they did not do the work for us Would you recommend the same happen? Definitely, definitely. Um, we would like the students to take charge of their Their submission their preparation for the public speaking but as if anything else And especially given the topics the students may not be too awkward with that particular subject area And they need assistance but apart from the school helping the Ministry of Tourism the technical officer of the Ministry of Tourism we also provide assistance in preparing the Presentation last year. I need to acknowledge the team from the community tourism agency CTA the little wonderful job in a system with the Preparation of our current winner minister for the youth Congress. So we do provide the support But at the end of the day it really is the students final product to present As they see fit with all of them what's happening around the world that we've seen that tourism is that I mean As a result of the pandemic with the tourism not coming back and come back in full full stream Junior tourism Minister for us now going out to represent St. Lucia. What would you like to see from that individual? Okay, well from the I could say from the Ministry standpoint. Yeah, what we would like to see is a young man or woman who is able to present a very powerful and riveting Or make a very powerful and riveting presentation on any of the three topics given a young person who has done the work done the necessary search and is able to Convincing to convincingly speak on their topic of choice If there are recommendations to be made and I think for each of the questions There are recommendations asked for each of these areas Convince the judges convince the audience convince you that these recommendations are feasible. They are practical and these are things that Countries can look to adopting or implementing to strengthen in their individual tourism products. Okay We look now secondary school students. Yes What is the exemption of fifth form? Okay, isn't being they have this the sec and we do not want to Interfave that so sorry, but we're looking at targeting forms trees and falls only, okay A fifth form student would feel much agrees that you have already apologized for them not being a part of But how can a fifth one student Participate even though they will not be a part of the competition, but would you recommend that be a fifth? Yes, yes, if you if you can rely on your peers in the higher forms for proper support Then by all means go ahead. I mean it even if you can't participate and you you have the The knowledge or you have the creative skills to say hey, let me help you a video I could help you to do so that then by all means feel free So all is not lost if you're informed side you can still assist and like we mentioned earlier The competition is a two-fifth format. Yes, okay And one I am sure that would be right up the alley of our young people that talk video Looking forward to seeing the video. Yes, we are looking forward to seeing as many submissions and sports as possible. So students Get your thinking cap on and start thinking of what we have to offer our products our services What makes us unique why we've gotten world's best honeymoon destination? Why we've for the first time gotten the accolade of world's best adventure destination start making your notes and Start putting those videos together. All right. And any final word from you? Just to see that Just to encourage the secondary schools and look forward to receiving the Ministry of Tourism From March 21st to April 4th where the technical team will be visiting schools making presentations and Really engaging students on the not just the public speaking but tourism in general So good luck to all of you who are interested and they look forward to receiving your submissions Thank you so much for being here with us. Thank you for having me appreciate it and look out for them coming to your school I will be coming as well because I have plans on joining that team This has been TV 30 production of the NTN and GIF I am Kendall Eugene. Thank you for joining