Tourism Minister Urges Business Community to Make Use of Incentives for Cricket World Cup Accommodations |
Contact: Earl Bousquet Monday, July 5, 2004 - Minister of Commerce, Tourism, Investment and Consumer Affairs Hon Philip J. Pierre says the entire tourism fraternity is very pleased with the announcement that the island will be a World Cup venue. He also urges the local business community to make use of generous incentives offered by the Government for accommodating the thousands expected to visit for the events. Recalling the announcement by Prime Minister Dr Kenny D. Anthony in his last Budget Address of a package of incentives for consideration by the business community in preparation for hosting an expected 30,000 to 40,000 visitors, Mr Pierre said: “It now remains for us to be able to take advantage of the incentives offered to be able to reap the touristic and economic benefits to be accrued from this decision.” Citing the benefits to the island’s tourism product, the Tourism Minister noted that “over 1.4 billion people will be able to see and hear about St. Lucia for 51 days on their TVs, radios, Internet and newspapers.” “That,” he added, “will be a tremendous boost for the island as a place to be visited.” St. Lucia and Barbados made a joint bid for hosting the World Cup and both venues are among the eight selected. The others are: Antigua and Barbuda, Grenada, Guyana, Jamaica, St. Kitts and Nevis and Trinidad and Tobago. The minister spoke minutes after the announcement of the selected Caribbean venues by the International Cricket Council on Monday morning.
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