Saint Lucia wants more French Tourism Business

Contact: Rose Marie Harris

Thursday, October 4, 2001 --  The Saint Lucia Tourist Board is launching a new promotion to attract more visitors from the neighbouring French islands of Martinique and Guadeloupe during the coming months.

The promotion forms part of a comprehensive move by the Government to develop alternative sources of tourism business to cushion the impact of a fall-off in visitors from the important United States market, following last month’s terrorist attacks.

Karib Tourism, a Martinique company, is marketing the special Saint Lucia holiday packages which offer tourists discounted rates, fee waivers, travel incentives and special entertainment activities. The launch of the promotion coincides with the  start of  Jounen Kweyol celebrations this month.

“This is normally a period that we see increased arrivals from the French islands and officials of the Saint Lucia Tourist Board are expecting that this campaign will stimulate the arrivals from these areas even more,” said Director of Tourism, Hilary Modeste.

He said the major beneficiaries will be taxi drivers, restaurants and especially the guesthouse sub-sector which relies heavily on business from weekend travelers from Martinique and Guadeloupe.

The Saint Lucia Tourist Board expects a recent Cabinet decision to allow French nationals to enter Saint Lucia with any form of picture identification rather than a passport, will enhance the campaign.

Government recently made available an additional $3.7 million to the Tourist Board to boost its marketing programme.

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