Tourism Officials Respond to Cathedral Tragedy

Contact: Tesa St. Ange

Friday, January 05, 2001 - St. Lucia’s Tourism and Civil Aviation Minister, Honourable Menissa Rambally, has called for greater collaboration among tourism partners in the development of appropriate mechanisms to deal with some of the pressing safety and security issues facing the island.

This comes from a meeting held Thursday involving the Minister and other Ministry officials, the St. Lucia Tourist Board and the St. Lucia Hotel and Tourism Association.  The meeting was to evaluate the impact of the recent attack on the congregation at the Catholic Basilica in Castries on St. Lucia’s image as a tourism destination, and to fashion appropriate responses.

The Tourist Board strongly condemned the isolated and cowardly act and was heartened by the apprehension of the suspects.   Board officials expect that justice will be swift.  They say, contrary to international reports that have wrongly associated the incident with the Rastafarian movement, tourism officials are pleased to learn that the leaders of the local Rastafarian community have unequivocally condemned the act.

Minister Rambally reiterated the Government’s commitment to the tourism industry. It is estimated that one out of every three jobs in St. Lucia is directly or indirectly generated by the tourism sector. The sector is the most important contributor to foreign exchange earnings - 6 out of every 10 units of foreign currency generated by the local economy is brought in by the tourism industry.

According to Tourism officials, every St. Lucian should be outraged by the senseless act and the actions of the few cannot be allowed to jeopardize the future of the country. It is important that measures be put in place to ensure that St. Lucia remains safe for residents and visitors and every effort will be made to stamp out acts of violence and other acts of criminal behaviour.

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