Thursday, April 16, 2009

Tourist arrivals increased by 8% in February

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4 comments:

Anonymous said...

Mr. Minister, your growth does not match the number of St Lucians out
of a job in this country!!!

April 16, 2009 at 6:57 AM
Anonymous said...

Whilst it is great news to see that overall visitor numbers are on the rise, more efforts must be made - by all concerned - to attract stay-over visitors.

Spending by cruise visitors in the foreign owned stores at Pointe Seraphine is promptly siphoned out of the country. The real benefit for Saint Lucia comes from the visitors who remain in the country overnight.

Mt Chastanet is working hard to attract visitors - the stlucianow website, for example, looks great, but the real key is airlift. There may be potential from South America, but what about the Russian Market?

Saint Lucia has a bright future - the Raffles, Ritz Carlton and Praslin (if it is ever built), resorts will see more affluent visitors leaving dollars on the island. As such Mr Chastanet is, on the whole, keeping his side of the bargain ; it is now the responsibility of St Lucians to make the island a safe, fun & friendly place to stay.

Finally, St Lucians should do more to distinguish the island from its competitors. What local products can you make? How can you market them? What foods & spices grow on the island?

Tourist visitors are desperate to spend money but there is too little to spend in on in St Lucia!

April 16, 2009 at 10:32 AM
Anonymous said...

I'm sure if we look at the per capita impact of a cruise visitor versus that of a stay-over visitor, we'd realize that claiming an overall increase in arrivals is really meaningless. The net impact is undoubtedly negative and prancing such arrivals figures are not going to give any real comfort to anyone. In fact, what it may suggest is that travellers are looking for cheaper options and thus cruise vacations. Further, we are coming to the point where I suspect we will see a sharp decline in arrivals due the economic crisis. March falls right at the 6 month mark since the full blown start of the economic crisis and we've sort of expended pre-bookings so to speak. I'm not so convinced that our future is so bright as suggested by the last commenter. This in fact is because in the years to come value-for-money is what any traveller or purchaser of property in paradise will be looking for and it will be ever more difficult to make money in a competitive tourism market.

April 16, 2009 at 12:22 PM
Anonymous said...

I think that the ministry of tourism should be an independent body that way Senator Chastanet can stay for a very long time.I think he rises above petty politics and he is the best you have for the job.

Keep on trucking Sir.

April 17, 2009 at 10:05 PM

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