Tourism stakeholder and former colleague bats for Dundas

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A former public relations consultant for Bryson’s Shipping and founder of Antigua and Barbuda Tourist Guide and many other publications in the region, has sought out the media to clear the name of her former colleague.

Edna Fortescue, who previously worked with Nathan Dundas at Bryson’s Shipping, said she wants to make the public aware of the innocence of Dundas amid criticisms levelled against him.

 “I worked with Mr. Dundas for a long time and I found him most efficient, capable and charming,” she told OBSERVER yesterday.

“I am horrified to hear of the attacks being made upon him…I’m really very horrified because the situation with the overcrowding in St. John’s and the mess down there in the port has nothing to do with Mr. Dundas. He navigates his way through all things as best as he can,” she added.  

Dundas is also president of the Antigua and Barbuda Cruise Tourism Association (ABCTA) and during earlier discussions of the recently signed Global Ports Holdings LLC Agreement, he expressed his belief that Prime Minister Gaston Browne was poorly advised regarding the agreement.

Dundas said that as a major cruise stakeholder, the ABCTA had serious concerns about what he termed the threat to the job security of direct and indirect local employees.

In response, the Prime Minister remarked that, “If Mr. Dundas has a better and more viable funding/investment option to develop the cruise facilities, I would have been happy to explore that option before execution of the GPH deal.”

Since then, Dundas has been blasted via multiple media outlets and platforms for declaring that several cruise lines have cancelled their previously scheduled calls to Antigua and Barbuda.

A few days ago, Dundas reported that Carnival Cruise Lines was the first to cancel its scheduled calls and as recently as two days ago, he told cruise stakeholders that 14 cruise calls previously scheduled for the upcoming winter season have been cancelled.

OBSERVER has since learned that 17 scheduled calls by five ships operated by the Princess Cruise Line that were due to visit over the period from October 22th 2019 to April 8th 2020 have been cancelled as well.

Dundas received backlash from many officials for allegedly causing alarm among the stakeholders of the tourism sector.

Managing Director of the Antigua Pier Group Saiid Greene was one of those who accused Dundas of “going rogue” and trying to destroy the country’s economic progress.

To date, Dundas has not made any comments on his own behalf.

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