by Brian Major
Last updated: 11:00 AM ET, Fri February 3, 2017
Saint Lucia will add more than 1,000 hotel rooms to the country's accommodations inventory in the next several years said Dominic Fedee, the country's tourism minister. The new inventory will be accompanied by a new marketing focus for the island's popular musical and cultural events, Fedee said.
In addition to the December announcement of the 350-room Sandals LaSource Saint Lucia resort, slated to open later this year, the new properties will include the 352-room Royalton Saint Lucia, scheduled to open in February; the Hideaway at Royalton Saint Lucia, a 104-room, adults-only boutique property adjacent to the Royalton Saint Lucia.
Also planned are the 36-suite Serenity at Coconut Bay, which will open in the spring, a new Ritz-Carlton to be located on the island's southern half," which Fedee called a "very exciting" project for the country and an 115-room Harbour Club business-oriented hotel planned to overlook the marina in the Rodney Bay district.
"Tourism continues to be the most important industry for Saint Lucia," said Fedee, who assumed office late last year with the election of Allen Chastanet, a former Saint Lucia tourism minister, to the prime minister's post.
In addition to the new inventory, Fedee said the Saint Lucia Tourism Authority, a new organization designed to replace the previous Saint Lucia Tourist Board, has revamped its marketing of key island events including the Saint Lucia Jazz Festival, which had been positioned as the island's premiere entertainment event, to focus on the diversity of musical celebrations held throughout the year in the country.
"We came in and saw the product development was suffering, and we were spending a lot of money on our jazz festival," which Fedee said accounted for only one-third of the country's tourism-related activity. "We had to look at new marketing. Saint Lucia is more than just five days in the month of May and we have decided to change the strategy this year to include all of our festivals."
The new strategy groups six separate events under the collective "Soleil Saint Lucia Summer Festival" brand. The Saint Lucia Jazz Festival May 12 to 14), the Roots & Soul Festival (June 16 to 18), the Saint Lucia Carnival (scheduled for the months of June and July) the Country & Blues festival (September 15 to 17) and the Arts & Heritage showcase (slated for October) will each be promoted under the new summer festival banner.
The new tourism authority will also place an emphasis on culturally distinctive attractions and activities, Fedee said. "We are also starting an organization called Village Tourism Inc. which is going to be harnessing the cultural assets of Saint Lucia," he said, "so that when visitors come to the island they have a better appreciation of the culture and where we have come from, the history and heritage."
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