It is a special pleasure for me to be here for this graduation exercise.

I am always happy when I have the opportunity to talk with young achievers.

I am particularly delighted to talk with young people who have chosen careers in the hospitality industry.

This is the sort of event at which there should be recruiters from our hotels, scouting for the talent graduating from the Hospitality Training Institute, this afternoon. Whether or not there are such talent scouts among us, today's graduates are on their way to careers in our country's most vital industry.

Travel and Tourism, and the hospitality sector, overall, are the key pillars of our economy; as it is of the region's economy, and the global economy.

Tourism and Travel continues to be the largest generator of jobs; and the fastest growing.

With close to one million persons directly employed in tourism, the industry generates an additional one and a half million jobs in the Caribbean.

Tourism generated jobs accounts for close to 16 percent of all employment in the region.

In a region that is more dependent on travel and tourism than any other region of the world, Antigua and Barbuda depends on tourism to a larger extent than virtually any other country in the world.

It is estimated that tourism accounts for more than seventy-five percent of the Antigua and Barbuda economy.

Today's graduates are, in a very direct sense, vested with responsibility for the success of our tourism industry, and, by extension, for our country's economic fortunes. I am confident that the future of our tourism is in good shape, and in capable hands.

Antigua and Barbuda is one of the truly remarkable achievements of nature.

Our beaches are among the most outstanding anywhere, and we have more of them than any country of comparative size; and we have the most special people as hosts to the world.

We have a tourism product that is richly enhanced by the diverse peoples, and the diverse cultures that converge in this cosmopolitan country.

Our people are Antigua and Barbuda's most valuable assets, particularly our young people.

That is what earns Antigua and Barbuda a prime position among all resort destinations.

As I look at this group of graduates, I am convinced that Antigua and Barbuda is well on the way to becoming the best brand in Caribbean tourism.

As you may all be aware, Antigua and Barbuda's stated vision and mission is to become the best brand in Caribbean tourism.

Every graduate in this gathering and every guest in this hall can contribute to the early fulfillment of this vision and this mission.

Our graduates have decided on careers in an industry that offers greater opportunity for advancement than does almost any other. Throughout the Caribbean, our tourism industry offers new entrants unlimited opportunities for upward mobility.

Here in Antigua and Barbuda, and elsewhere in the Caribbean, untold numbers of persons have worked their way from the bottom to the top of the ladder, to the very top.

Calvert Roberts, who is from Johnson's Point, has worked his way up from entry level to the top job, as General Manager of the world renowned Curtain Bluff Resort.

Calvert Roberts is an inspiring example to everyone in this room.

Collie Gardner from Parham, has moved from accounts clerk to become manager of the legendary Mill Reef Club, which is literally the playground of the rich and famous.

Our very own guest speaker this afternoon Elaine Edwards Assistant Manager of Galley Bay Resort, a graduate of the Hospitality Training Institute also rose through the ranks in the industry.

Every one of today's graduates should aspire to be like Calvert Roberts, Collie Gardner or Elaine Edwards

Others like today's graduates have gone on to establish their own hotels and restaurants, and ancillary businesses, while still young in the industry.

CHA has hotel members in every island, every country, in the Caribbean, and allied members from countries around the world.

How do you become a Calvert Roberts?

How do you become a Collie Gardner?

If you are as fortunate as today's graduates are, you will complete the Antigua and Barbuda Hospitality Training Institute Programme.

Having learned the rules of the game, you then have to play better than everyone else does.

That simple but profound wisdom comes from the person who is perhaps history's most celebrated genius, the scientist Albert Einstein.

Playing better than everyone else calls not only for steadfast determination and dedication, but also for genuine congeniality that is the hallmarks of the high achievers among tourism professionals.

Congeniality, industriousness, enthusiasm and the desire to be the best that you can be, never go unrewarded.

This will apply wherever you work in the hospitality industry.

Once you got it right, in the hospitality industry, you can be a success anywhere in the Caribbean, anywhere in the world.

The Caribbean Single Market and Single Economy will open up new options for today's graduates.

We would prefer not to lose any of today's graduates to other Caribbean countries.

However, opportunities will be available to today's graduates under the Caribbean Single Market and Single Economy, which become operational in January 2006.

Here at home, we are looking at significant growth and significant numbers on new job opportunities in our hospitality sector.

Proposals for investment in the hospitality sector, totaling something in the region of EC$1.3 Billion, are currently being processed by the Government.

Congratulations must be extended to the hard working Minister of Tourism the Hon. Harold Lovell for his work in building the tourism industry.

The proposals under consideration represent close to 2,000 new rooms in our hotel sector; and as many direct jobs; with a large additional number of indirect jobs.

These projections are in addition to, and apart from, the proposed Stanford Development Company investments.

A significant portion of the projects that we are now negotiating will come on stream next year, which will also coincide with cricket World Cup 2007.

All of this means exciting new opportunities for professionals in the accommodation sector, the restaurant sector, and for craft producers; entertainers, clothes designers and marketers, tour operators, taxi drivers, and others in the various sub sectors of tourism.

The opportunities are virtually unlimited in our hospitality sector.

I urge our graduates, including those now entering the hospitality sector, to aim high.

Set yourselves on pathways to increasing success.

What lies behind you and what lies ahead of you are small matters compared to what lies within you.

Let excellence be the core of what lies within you.

I congratulate you all.

I thank those who have mentored you.

I thank those who will mentor you as you speed to the top.

Onward now, together, graduates, mentors and guests, in transforming Antigua and Barbuda into the best brand in Caribbean tourism.

May God richly bless your lives and your careers.

May God bless our beloved Antigua and Barbuda.