Saint Lucia: Ernest Hilaire, the minister for tourism and creative industries of Saint Lucia, shared his words on the plans of the government to promote tourism in the nation and projects following the ways in his recent appearance. The minister also expressed his views on the MICE award granted to Saint Lucia.
Minister Ernest Hilaire mentioned in his statement about the intention on which the government is working which is to promote the island nation as an events destination. The vision is part of the efforts made in the direction of the evolving MICE industry, which includes Meetings, Incentives, Conferences, and Events.
Ernest Hilaire said in his statement, “The government has made a very determined effort in the last year to facilitate and to promote the hosting of events with the meetings and conferences in the island nation of Saint Lucia.”
Minister Ernest Hilaire quoted the recognition of the efforts made in the early stage by the nation on the fourth annual World MICE Awards as a big deal. In the grand event, Saint Lucia was awarded with the Caribbean’s Best Corporate Retreat Destination 2023.
In the sector of sports tourism, the Minister talked about the steps taken by the authorities in the way. Hilaire highlighted the promotion of multiple sports in the nation like cricket, marathons, swimming, netball, and others.
The authorities are working in a way of promoting sports and attracting cricket teams of schools from the United Kingdom to Saint Lucia. The focus is heavily given on the times of annual events such as the Easter break and summer vacation.
Ernest Hilaire said, “The government is building for us to again set up a very active Sports Tourism calendar while the Ministry of Tourism is promoting alternative Sports and that is super exciting for us.”
Minister stated, “Over the last few years many of the facilities around the island have been upgraded and that is what we need. For if we are going to invite schools and other professional teams to come to Saint Lucia, we have to be able to offer them the very best facilities.”
In his statement, Ernest Hilaire mentioned the vision of the tourism ministry in further coming years and said that they are planning on big projects in Saint Lucia by organising grand events such as ICC World Cup Cricket, CPL, English tour, and more. He marked sports tourism as the key focus of the grand plan saying, “You will see a greater effort being made to promote and this summer, we have quite a lot of sports that will be taking place.”