Avanell DaSilva

In March of 2009, Avanell DaSilva joined the staff of the St. Vincent and the Grenadines Tourism Authority having interned as a university student at the Ministry of Tourism in 2007. Having completed her BSC in Hotel Management at the University of the West Indies (UWI) and Centre for Hotel Management, she was ready to take on the world of tourism and hospitality.  She was first tasked with the development and implementation of this country’s first ever service standards and thus became a pioneer in developing these standards.  By the end of 2010, with the support of various local stakeholders she was successful in developing four of the current service standards and a fifth in 2012.  She was then integrally involved in the development and implementation of the present Tourism Approved Licensing system and spent the years that followed training the respective local stakeholders in meeting these mandatory standards.

Avanell is passionate about service excellence and firmly believes that quality service is imperative in the success of any business or industry. One can offer the best product in the world, however, the quality of service offered while presenting that product is even more critical to its success. Consequently, in 2015 Avanell pursued her passion and now holds an MBA in Service Excellence from the University of Wales. She is also a Certified Hospitality Trainer of the American Hotel and Lodging Association.

As the country’s Focal Point for Sustainable Tourism, Avanell continues to believe that our people are at the heart of our tourism products and services; they are storytellers of our heritage and culture. She believes now more than ever, as Caribbean people we must become the keepers of our intangible heritage and fierce protectors of all of the natural wonders of our Caribbean islands.