Business Writer, Malcolm Charles OBE,JP
In other Caribbean news, with an ECM Government allocation to the ‘stakeholders’ of Saint Lucia’s 2013 Carnival Season.
With local Sponsors Digicel, Piton Beer, Bounty Rum amongst other commercial houses on board, this year’s Carnival extravaganza, is now set for some ‘Cultural excitement’.
This follows a ‘blast off’ event organized by the Saint Lucia Carnival Bands Association in collaboration with ‘NG Soca Stage Group, at the Samaans Park on Sunday, June 9th,2013.
Despite allegations of a ‘boycott by the media’ at a ‘media launch’ at the Palm Haven Hotel on June 4th, Tourism Minister Lorne Theophilus, called for closer collaboration between stakeholders and Government, to work together despite budgetary constraints , in order to ensure, that the Event was a success.
Photo courtesy www.intercharter.com
To achieve that goal, it was announced that a number of key components of the Festival would be ‘merged’ including the ‘ King and Queen of the Bands’ Shows, as well as a merger of the’ Groovy and Soca Monarch’ Competitions.
While trends in visitor arrivals in recent years have not recorded a ‘dramatic’ increase since the relocation of the Carnival Season from a pre-lenten event formerly held in February each year to the June/July ‘summer’ months, expectations of the ‘Small Hotel Properties’ appear to be optimistic.
According to Cheryl Skeete, Tourist Board Representative for Small Properties, ‘that despite advertising of Carnival Specials ,she was somewhat less than optimistic about their benefitting from Carnival Business’.
However, the larger of the Small Hotels Grouping ,usually had a ‘French Caribbean Market ‘following of Carnival Revellers ,mainly out of Martinique and Guadeloupe.
Tourism Minister Lorne Theophilus. Photo courtesy www.anguillanews.com
President of the St.Lucia Dry Goods Vendors Association Ipa Isaac was also of the view, that ‘apart from a few T-Shirts ‘and the like, Carnival Visitors were ‘not nescessarily looking for Souvenirs’ which were among the principal sales offerings of his Grouping.
Meanwhile,Tourism Officials continue to bask in the afterglow of a ‘Global Traveller Magazine’ accolade by its over 130K person monthly readership, accrediting Saint Lucia as ‘#1 (number one) in the Caribbean for visitor experience’ and with concerns over the availability of airlift, an announcement of further investment by British Airways who have been operating flights from the UK into the Caribbean since 1946, was indeed welcomed.
From all accounts,the current ‘Creative Industries’ arm of the Tourism Sector has its sights set ‘on making Saint Lucia Carnival as big as Saint Lucia Jazz’ and then some and so the annual extravaganza which is set to run from the above mentioned launch at Samaans Park, to its culmination with the grande ‘Parade of the Bands’ through the Streets of the capital Castries on July 15th and 16th,2013 in Saint Lucia, is now much anticipated.
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