Sept / Oct 2016 | Business View Caribbean

12 September 2016 - Business View Caribbean Business View Caribbean - September 2016 13 Opening Lines Saint Lucia Reaps Benefits from OECS Yachting Initiatives Caribbean Destinations Must Offer a Diverse Product, says Air Canada Leisure Group President Tourism officials in Saint Lucia are pleased about the considerable increase in the number of yacht calls to the island. Statistics released from the Saint Lucia Tourist Board revealed double digit growth (28.8%) in yachting arrivals for the period January to June 2016, in comparison to the same period in 2015. Data collected at Rodney Bay and Marigot Bay ma- rinas collectively tallied a total of 29,101 yacht arriv- als, compared to 25,593 yachtspersons who visited between January and June last year. An increase of 32.4% and 18.6% was recorded at Rodney Bay and Marigot Bay marinas respectively. Cuthbert Didier, maritime consultant in the ministry of tourism (Saint Lucia) and Saint Lucia’s represen- tative on the OECS yachting committee, attributed this increase to a combination of factors. However a main reason reported by Didier is the participation of Saint Lucia in major boat shows such as the An- napolis (United States Sailboat) Boat Show. In October 2014, Saint Lucia joined six other OECS islands for a collective presence at the Annapolis Boat Show. A survey of patrons visiting the Eastern Caribbean Village at this event revealed that 96 per- cent of respondents intend to sail to the OECS in the future and there is a 77 percent chance that this is very likely occurrence. Saint Lucia also participated in the OECS joint pres- ence at the Toronto International Boat Show (TIBS) in January 2015; and the Boot Dusseldorf Boat Show in Germany in January 2016. Canadian travelers are demanding more diversity and greater options and Caribbean destinations must offer a diverse product if they are to remain attractive to this important market, president of Air Canada Leisure Group Craig Landry said. Landry, whose responsibili- ties include Air Canada Vaca- tion and the leisure carrier Air Canada Rouge, will deliver the feature address on Friday 16 September at the Caribbean Tourism Organization’s State of the Tourism Industry Con- ference (SOTIC) taking place in Barbados from 14-16 Sep- tember. However, in an interview ahead of the event, the airline executive spoke of evolving consumer preferences, from accommodation to activities. “From the perspective of the consumer it’s all about choice, so choice means we need diversity in the type of products we can offer,” Landry explained. “What we’re seeing is that with different types of markets, whether it’s from family size or whether it’s adults and couples, their needs are different in terms of the types of amenities and the types of services that respond to them and so we need to make sure we have segmentation and the ability to be able to address that. “We’re also seeing changes in people who are booking not necessarily non-inclusive - so that can be villas or people who might want to do some of their own cooking or some of their own travel expe- riences and excursions when they’re there; they’re looking for a different type of living aboard type of approach when they stay in a destination and we need product to accommodate that and we need to make sure we have enough breadth and depth of our product and diversity in the type of things we can offer to satisfy different segments of travel,” he added. The State of the Tourism Industry Conference, which has as its theme, “Honoring Our Legacy, Defining Our Future,” is the pre-eminent tourism gathering in the region. It brings together tourism decision-mak- ers, including ministers, commissioners and direc- tors of tourism, hotel and airline executives, travel agents, students, the media and persons directly and indirectly involved in tourism. It is preceded by CTO business meetings, including meetings of the board of directors and the Council of Ministers and Commissioners of Tourism.