Record tourist arrivals set last year
PRIME MINISTER Allen Chastanet says his administration will be making “a concerted effort” to improve the tourism sector as the island recorded its highest number of stayover visitors.
“For the first time in St Lucia’s history, we have recorded over 400,000 stayover arrivals, an increase of about 7.1 per cent year-to-date. This extraordinary performance topped off an already successful year for our destination which also saw us winning the World’s Leading Honeymoon Destination for a record 11th time,” Chastanet wrote on his Facebook page.
He said that, as the island continues to enjoy record-breaking arrivals throughout this year, his administration “will be making a concerted effort via game-changing policies and projects to ensure more St Lucians benefit from these exceptional performances.
“I would love to see more of our people not only being employed in the industry, but participating as entrepreneurs, whether it be by starting their own unique tours and excursions, restaurants, bars, accommodation and retail/vending ventures,” he said.
Earlier Tourism Minister Dominic Fedee said “coming in at 422,600 plus visitors, it means that this would have been the best year that we have had in the history of recording St Lucia’s statistics”.
Fedee said the trajectory for tourism continues “to be quite high and continues to be quite powerful,” and urged St Lucians to participate in the tourism sector and benefit from concessions by government.