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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.