ST. CROIX, United States Virgin Islands – The Secretary-General of the Barbados-based Caribbean Tourism Organization (CTO), Dona Regis-Prosper, says the future of Caribbean economic stability lies not in the boardroom but in the soil.
CTO Secretary General, Dona Regis-Prosper, addressing 54th annual AgriFestAddressing the opening of the 54th annual AgriFest here, Regis-Propser, who is also the CTO chief executive officer, told delegates that modern tourism success remains inseparable from the Caribbean’s agrarian roots.
She described the three-day showcase of agriculture and technology as a reckoning with regional identity, noting that “before there were hotels, airports, seaports (and) cruise ships, there was land, soil and cultivation.
“Tourism really began in a garden,” she said, praising the US Virgin Islands for sustaining agriculture as a core pillar of its social and economic fabric rather than treating it as a secondary industry.
Regis-Prosper, whose career includes work on St. Croix-based energy projects in the 1990s, noted that today’s travelers increasingly seek sensory authenticity over traditional luxury markers, a shift that places local farmers at the center of the tourism value chain.
“Visitors don’t always remember square footage, décor or thread counts. They remember taste, smell, storytelling — or, as I like to say, truth-telling. And they remember how they felt.”
In her address, Regis-Prosper referred to the CTO’s Reimagine Plan, which highlights sustainable and regenerative tourism, emphasising that technology must serve as an ally to strengthen long-term resilience.
“Agriculture plus technology plus strategic foresight equals resilience,” she said. “And resilience is something that St. Croix knows well,” she said, adding “tourism should never replace the garden. Tourism should protect it”.
Commissioner of Tourism for the U.S. Virgin Islands, Jennifer Matarangas-King, said that AgriFest has become one of the Territory’s busiest tourism weekends.
“Outside of the Crucian Christmas Festival, Agrifest is the biggest weekend that we have. Right now, every room is filled. You can’t get a rental car. I think people are probably sleeping on the beach at this point — so that’s good for us.”
She told the audience that three cruise ships were to deliver more than 8,000 visitors over the holiday weekend, joining thousands of residents and diaspora members, and emphasized that the Territory’s farm-to-table reputation is an authentic cultural asset rather than a marketing trend.
“Farm-to-table is not a movement here,” said Matarangas-King. “It’s a way of life that spans generations.”
Governor Albert Bryan Jr. used the platform to call for a shift in how the Territory approaches land use, consumption and food security, adding that land ownership as a pathway to generational wealth and resilience.
“We all need to think about how we live, how we eat and what we grow. Good food grows in the yard. Actually, everything grows here,” he said, noting that his administration continues to acquire land specifically for preservation and agricultural use, urging young people to see the “garden” as a foundational asset.
