2009 regarded as perhaps the country's best jazz event to date

Thursday, April 29, 2010 – In presenting his year in review report on the tourism industry to the Senate on Tuesday, Minister for Tourism Honourable Allen Chastanet said last year's jazz festival was one of the best marketed events the tourist board had ever experienced.

The minister noted, however, that despite registering significant exposure in the international press the event experienced a major set back at the hands of Mother Nature.

“The first major project that we always have is jazz. Last year's jazz was one full of hype. It was probably one of the best jazz festivals we've had, in part because of the publicity we got due to Amy Winehouse. Unprecedented coverage in entertainment magazines, TV coverage, literally marketing in the US was almost every single day.”

The minister went on to add that because of these circumstances, the financial gains were not as meaningful as it could have been.

“Unfortunately, the financial results of the jazz festivals were severely impacted because of the rains that we experienced on the Thursday. And we were not able to recuperate that revenue meaning the people who came for Thursday were allowed to come in the Friday which diluted our ticket sales.”

Minister Chastanet disclosed that the cost of the 2009 Jazz Festival was approximately seven million dollars.

Meantime, organizers of Saint Lucia Jazz are set for yet another staging of the festival from the 1^st to the 9^th of May. St. Lucian artists along with internationally acclaimed artists are expected to make this year’s event another memorable Saint Lucia Jazz.

[ Home ] [ Up ] [Site Help]

Read our privacy guidelines.