One of the Caribbean’s fastest-growing destinations just reached another tourism milestone. 

The island of Saint Lucia reported a total of 423,736 stayover visitors in 2019, the highest total in the history of the destination — just in time for Saint Lucia’s 40th anniversary of independence. 

Saint Lucia tourism officials attribute much of the growth to a significant increase in airlift from the crucial United States market, which accounted for 45 percent of all stayover tourist arrivals during the calendar year. 

That accounted for nearly 191,000 visitors from the United States. 

“This increase in arrivals was of tremendous benefit to the tourism industry, and by extension, the entire economy of Saint Lucia as it resulted in increased bed-nights, meaning more persons stayed in paid accommodation, required taxi services and enjoyed the natural sites, attractions and cuisine that the island has to offer and thereby, created more job opportunities for the local population.” the Saint Lucia Tourism Authority said in a statement. 

Even more, the growth represented an additional 100,000 visitors since its total at the beginning of the decade — a jump of nearly 38 percent. 

“We are not simply interested in increasing numbers but more importantly ensuring that the growth trajectory of the industry is sustainable and that it touches every facet of economic development leading to employment creation and income generation for our people.  External reports also indicate that although Saint Lucia has one of the highest Average Daily Rates (ADR) in the region, we continue to be in high demand, which only augurs well for the revenue generation capability of the destination,” said Saint Lucia Tourism Minister Dominic Fedee, who was recently named Caribbean Tourism Minister of the Year in the 2020 Caribbean Travel Awards. 

— CJ

The post Saint Lucia Just Reached a New Tourism Milestone appeared first on Caribbean Journal.

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Jamaica is looking to Kingston as it seeks to capitalize on its vast cultural offering. 

Jamaica’s Ministry of Tourism is looking toward developing the island’s unique cultural events into full-fledged tourism products, and Kingston is the centerpiece of the plan. 

“We’re looking forward to building the City of Kingston as the entertainment centre of the Caribbean,” said Jamaica Tourism Minister Edmund Bartlett. “We are not competing with anybody. You know what we’re doing. We’re creating something that is truly authentic. Something that is opinionated and something that people come to Jamaica to experience and consume and can go nowhere else and get it.”

It’s part of a wider push to capitalize on Jamaica’s diverse, rich cultural offering, officials say. 

That includes a push to create “cultural reggae products,” along with a drive to promote Jamaica’s Carnival. 

The idea is “to create a carnival product so that we can market it, and it can become a critical content in the architecture and the arrangements that we are making for the dissemination of ideas and information about Jamaica,” Bartlett said. 

Bartlett was speaking at the 2020 launch of Jamaica Carnival at the new AC Marriott hotel in Kingston this week. 

This year’s Carnival in Jamaica is projecting approximately 10,000 attendees, according to Jamaica Culture Minister Olivia Grange. 

“We have taken what was already an exciting Caribbean art form and in true Jamaican style, we have made it better in terms of increased participation, boundless excitement, and expansive global impact,” she said.

It’s another boost for Kingston, which is a major area of priority as Jamaica looks to develop its capital as a new kind of Caribbean urban destination.

— CJ

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St Maarten’s tourism rebirth has continued with the debut of the island’s newest hotel: the Adonis Cupecoy.

The Adonis is the first new-build hotel to open its doors since Hurricane Irma, with a setting in Cupecoy, just south of the border with Saint Martin.

Pascal Bataillé, president and founder of Adonis Hotels and Residences, confirmed the hotel’s opening to Caribbean Journal.

The hotel, located between St Maarten’s Porto Cupecoy marina and the Mullet Bay golf course, has a total of 52 sleek, modern rooms.

It’s the first-ever Caribbean hotel for France-based chain Adonis Hotels and Residences, which has a portfolio of 27 hotels in mainland France.

It’s a new, budget-friendly option for the island, with amenities including free Wi-Fi, parking and a daily buffet breakfast included in the rate.

The opening comes as another highly-anticipated hotel, the 124-room Morgan Resort and Spa is set to debut later this year in St Maarten. (That hotel will be set on Simpson Bay, directly adjacent to St Maarten’s iconic Sunset Beach Bar.

(Another major project is also in the pipeline, with fast-expanding Planet Hollywood Hotels brand planning to open an all-inclusive at the site of the former Great Bay resort in Philipsburg.

And the French side of St Martin will soon get a boost next month with the arrival of AMResorts’ first-ever French Caribbean property, the New Secrets St Martin.

St Maarten has been seeing a dramatic tourism recovery, with arrival numbers growing in excess of 100 percent compared to 2018.

That’s a testament to “all the hard word that everyone in the travel industry has been putting into ensuring that our tourism sector recovers quickly,” St Maarten Director of Tourism May-Ling Chung told Caribbean Journal.

“We’re thrilled to see that visitors are returning to the island in greater numbers,” she said.

That’s in large part due to quick work by the destination’s Princess Juliana International Airport to rebound with a provisional terminal in the wake of the storm, and complete transformations for St Maarten’s popular Sonesta Maho and Sonesta Ocean Point hotels.

St Maarten’s all-important cruise sector has also been showing renewed strength, with nearly 1.6 million cruise passengers last year, according to newly-released data from Port St Maarten.

That represented an increase of 2.2 percent compared to the previous year.

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