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Contact:
Amanda Faye Clarke
Tuesday, November 24, 2009 – Minister for Tourism and Civil Aviation,
Senator the Honourable Allen Chastanet, says he is elated at the most recent
statistics which indicate that the local economy is well on its way to recovery.
“We got our October arrivals and we saw an increase for the first time in about
eight months. There was a .2% increase in land-based arrivals and 16% increase
in cruise arrivals for the month of October. So while to date we are down 8% in
land-based arrivals, we are up 31.2% in our overall arrivals.”
Minister Chastanet says Saint Lucia can expect continued strengthening of the
tourism industry. He says initiatives such as the Caribbean Marketplace and the
16th Annual General Meeting of the Florida Caribbean Cruise Association (FCCA),
recently held on the island, have paved the way for an even more thriving
tourism industry in the future. “The expectation for November and December is
that we are going to see double-digit growth. We are now revising our estimation
and we believe that for the end of the year, we're probably going to be down 5
or 6%. I think given the climate we're presently in, we're very excited about
this particular achievement,” Chastanet said.
The minister is optimistic that that the high level gatherings of key
international tourism players in Saint Lucia earlier this year, has began, and
will continue to pay dividends to the entire country.
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