By Melanius Alphonse Caribbean News Now associate editor melanius@caribbeannewsnow.com CASTRIES, St Lucia — At a national protest march and rally organised by the opposition Saint Lucia Labour Party (SLP) on September 9 that attracted record turnout, political leader, Philip J Pierre, stated: “What is next is we have to continue to apply maximum pressure on […]

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By Caribbean News Now contributor WASHINGTON, USA — At a meeting on Monday, US State Department officials indicated their “utter dismay” at a false online report that claimed a letter was delivered to Antigua and Barbuda Prime Minister Gaston Browne “by an American official” while he was at the UN General Assembly last week. According […]

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By the Caribbean Journal staff

Air Canada is adding a host of new flights to the island of Saint Lucia, Caribbean Journal has learned.

The carrier will be adding a new nonstop flight on Air Canada Rouge beginning Oct. 31, increasing its weekly frequency to four flights each week to Saint Lucia, with service on Mondays, Wednesdays, Saturdays and Sundays.

Beginning Dec. 25, Air Canada Rouge will be launching daily nonstop service to Saint Lucia.

The Ladera resort in Saint Lucia.

Air Canada is also adding a new nonstop flight from Montreal to Saint Lucia, with the new nonstop service operating once per week on Fridays.

The Montreal service will be extended through April 26, 2019, according to the Saint Lucia Tourism Authority.

Jade Mountain in Saint Lucia.

It will also be operated on Air Canada’s new, larger 737-MAX aircraft, meaning an increase in the airline’s total seat capacity to Saint Lucia by 57 percent the full season.

The Bay Gardens resort in Saint Lucia.

“Canada is Saint Lucia’s 4th largest travel market. These new non-stop flights from Toronto and Montreal significantly contributes to our tourism growth and the marketing efforts of the Saint Lucia Tourism Authority,” said Saint Lucia Tourism Authority Acting Chief Executive Officer, Mrs. Tiffany Howard. “We continue to record advancement in stay over arrivals from Canada: the new direct service will provide more opportunities for Canadians to explore our beautiful island.”

The Hotel Chocolat in Saint Lucia.

It’s another positive step for Saint Lucia’s airlift.

Beginning Dec. 19, Saint Lucia will be receiving another daily flight from Miami on American Airlines.

Additionally, United will launch flights between Chicago and Saint Lucia beginning next January.

— CJ

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By Rico Louw
CJ Contributor

Caribbean hotels reported positive overall performance in August driven by strong pricing power, according to data from STR.

On the islands where STR maintains a sufficient reporting sample, the Bahamas experienced the highest rise in occupancy (+14.5%), but new rooms entering the market recently contributed to a 1.9% drop in ADR. Curacao registered the only other double-digit increase in occupancy (+11.5%) and exponential growth in RevPAR (+23.5%). Aruba posted the largest lift in ADR (+16.0%).

It was the latest month of strong growth for Curaçao, which continues to pace the region in occupancy growth in recent months.

Above: the Baoase hotel in Curacao.

When comparing the data against August 2017, occupancy was almost flat (-0.4%), but average daily rate (ADR) grew 4.8% and pushed a 4.3% rise in revenue per available room (RevPAR).

When looking at Puerto Rico, occupancy fell 3.3% to 71.1%. The island’s ADR increase was the second-highest in the region (+14.5% to US$178.94), which helped RevPAR increase 10.8% to US$114.85.

Nassau in The Bahamas.

Performance comparisons will be rather erratic as we process September data later this month. That will continue for the remaining months of 2018 as we benchmark against the post-hurricane time period of last year.

On the development front, there are currently 42 hotels that account for a total of 10,576 rooms In Construction in the Caribbean.

Rico Louw is Client Account Manager at hotel analytics firm STR. To reach him, please email rlouw@str.com.

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… NATIONS TEAM PUERTO RICO PARTNERS WITH GLOBAL DISASTER OUTREACH
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