21st January 2010
SLTB Plans
Stan Bishop

The St. Lucia Tourist Board (SLTB) says despite gloomy predictions at the beginning of last year, the performance of the local tourism sector recorded some measure of success.
Louis Lewis, director of SLTB, told reporters at a press conference last Tuesday morning that a myriad of issues mitigated a higher level of success in the sector, namely the global financial crunch.
“”I think 2009 was a reasonably successful year, given the projection we had at the beginning of January of that year when we anticipated that, given all that is taking place in the market place and given the overall economic conditions, that arrivals would have been down anywhere between 10 and 15 percent,” Lewis said at the press briefing held at SLTB’s office at Vide Boutielle.
He continued: “We took a very close look at St. Lucia’s performance and some of the issues that impeded the destination from actually achieving its full potential. Principal among those factors was the constraint that was imposed by the deficiency that we have with regards to airlift. We spent a considerable amount of effort in addressing those problems. By the middle of the year, we had received assurances that we would have gained sufficient air capacity, particularly in the areas where we have traditional arrivals.”
Lewis added that the SLTB also focused on key areas that held natural potential for growth, embarking on the institution of its Road Show programme, alongside its other marketing strategies, to target visitors from the United States and Canada. The plan, he said, was a key factor in the industry realizing some positive figures for the months of November and December last year.
“The plans we’ve instituted in the summer months of 2009 actually yielded or resulted in a 40% increase in our arrivals out of the U.S. in the month of November and a 21% increase in the numbers coming out for December. That is a phenomenal improvement since we have not seen growth of that magnitude in more than six years,” the SLTB director explained. “We’ve negotiated sufficient airline for the destination and, overall, the air capacity has improved by about 40% and if we apply that trend, in terms of performance, we expect that 2010 would actually be one of our best years.”
As far as records are concerned for the industry, Lewis noted, 2005 stands as the best performance year for the sector.
Lewis added that significantly lower airfares work in the island’s favour. High airfare rates, industry officials have repeatedly stated, have played a key role in the diminished numbers in arrivals to Caribbean destinations. St. Lucia, Lewis said, is enjoying that period of respite.
“In our favour and for the first time, we have a very attractive average airfare to St. Lucia and I think if you looked at the numbers, for the greater part of 2009 and 2010, the average airfare coming from our competitive gateways has gone down about 60%. So it really adds to the attractiveness or the ease with which people can travel to the destinaton and I believe that’s what has been driving the arrivals in the last two months,” the SLTB director said.
Commenting on the just-concluded CHTA Marketplace held in San Juan, Puerto Rico, Lewis indicated that St. Lucia as a destination remains a key cog in the tourism wheel.