Govt plans to make major announcements for tourism sector: Ernest Hilaire

Deputy Prime Minister and Minister for Tourism Ernest Hilaire attended the Florida-Caribbean Cruise Association Annual Meeting in Panama

Monday, 25th October 2021

Govt plans to make major announcements for tourism sector: Ernest Hilaire

Deputy Prime Minister and Minister for Tourism Ernest Hilaire attended the Florida-Caribbean Cruise Association Annual Meeting in Panama to discuss the future of the cruise industry in St Lucia. Hilaire met the significant stakeholders who manage and operate the substantial component in the tourism sector.

He said the government of St Lucia is also aiming to make major announcements concerning the tourism sector.

"Each year, hundreds of thousands of passengers disembark in Saint Lucia visiting our numerous sites and attractions, including beaches. This offers a tremendous opportunity to inspire cruisers to become overnighters," said the Deputy Prime Minister and Minister for Tourism, Investment, Creative Industries, Culture and Information. Ernest Hilaire said he outlined the vision of the St Lucian government for cruise tourism in the meeting. He said the conference allowed them to focus on putting people first by promoting greater participation and ownership of the various elements of the cruise sector. "This means developing our product to offer more authentic experiences, creating more linkages with local goods and services and increasing our capacity to accommodate more arriving passengers," said Hilaire. Furthermore, he stated the government of St Lucia is hoping to make some significant announcements on the future of cruise tourism. He said he aims to create more opportunities for the constituents of Castries South, especially the youth and transform the constituency. With "God's grace, it shall be done. Very soon, community meetings will commence, and details will be presented. I will invite all and sundry." said the Minister, who is also Parliamentarian from Castries South constituency. Nevertheless, Hilaire said he missed the Technical Team visit to various sites in his constituency where transformation projects will be executed. Taking a dig the previous United Workers Party led government, Hilaire said a lot of could have been done in the past, however no actions were taken to improve the tourism sector.