St. Lucia Outlines New Initiatives to Boost Tourism in 2015

The Saint Lucia Tourist Board (SLTB) plans to beat the achievements made in tourism in 2014 with the implementation of a number of new initiatives. This was revealed by tourism officials today at a special press conference, called to discuss the achievements made in 2014 and plans for the New Year.

Tourism Minister Lorne Theophilus said his ministry, with support from the SLTB, will be revealing a few new sites and attractions this year. He said the new sites will be very attractive.

While he did not disclose the location for the new sites nor the details of the projects, the minister said the initiative will help to bring more visitors to the island.

More focus will also be placed on improving the SLTB’s digital and social media reach, while maintaining good relations with all the major tourism markets, especially the United States.

Plans are also being made to attract people from the Diaspora to return to Saint Lucia for a trip or two, while increasing contacts and developing strategies to attract more regional tourists.

It was also revealed that 2014 was a successful year for Saint Lucia in terms of tourism, where records have been broken and tremendous growth was achieved in a number of areas.

Director of Tourism Louis Lewis told the media conference that Saint Lucia has seen a six percent increase in stay-over arrivals for 2014. The island saw some 336,000 stay-over visitors.

Lewis also noted that figures recorded in February, March, April, June, October, November and December of 2014 were the highest numbers ever for those months.

An average of 900 tourists came to Saint Lucia every day, during 2014. Some days it was between 700 and 600, while during the peak season they were 1,800 to 1,900 visitors each day.

The cruise sector also saw an additional 28,000 people in 2014 cruise passenger calls, while the yachting sector saw an increase of about 9,000 people.

According to the tourism director, Saint Lucia’s largest tourism market, which is the United States, grew by 11 per cent last year. The United Kingdom (UK) market also grew by four percent, despite the economic situation, and the Canadian market grew 13 per cent.

However, he noted that there was a decline of about eight per cent in Caribbean travelers. While the German and French markets are smaller, Lewis said these markets are gradually growing. The tourism director believes there is potential for growth in those markets this year.

However, moreover in the past three years there has been increased direct access to Saint Lucia from some of the main source markets. Lewis views it as a competitive advantage that has allowed Saint Lucia to see the growth that it is now experiencing.

Airlifts also increased by five per cent. There are now additional lifts out of Boston, more direct services out of New York, and new service opening in the US. There is now also new direct service coming out of Montreal, Canada. Flights are expected to increase in 2015.

Meanwhile, Deputy Director of the SLTB Tracey Warner-Arnold told the media conference that destination Saint Lucia is growing rapidly and this will continue throughout 2015.

Warner-Arnold said several marketing strategies have helped Saint Lucia to reach this milestone. According to her, the Bachelor and Sports Illustrated have been the two strongest, which sold Saint Lucia as the number one destination in the Caribbean.

The Bachelor attracted over 17 million people with an advertising cost of US$41 million. Sports Illustrated Swimsuit edition garnered 3.2 million consumers and US$2.6 million advertising value. A number of other PR and marketing initiatives garnered US$10 million advertising value.

In the culinary niche market, led by Culinary Ambassador Chef Nina, also saw success. Warner-Arnold said Chef Nina had a very good impact and Saint Lucia’s cuisine was advertised in several states in the United States as well as in Canada.

Source: St. Lucia News