Prime Minister urges hoteliers to look at the “big picture”

CASTRIES, St. Lucia, CMC- Prime Minister Kenny Anthony has called on hoteliers to redefine their approach to the industry and do more to improve quality and mutually beneficial partnerships. Addressing the 49th annual general meeting of the St.Lucia Hotels and Tourism Association, the Prime Minister said developed countries such as the United States and Europe, which are major source markets for the industry, are currently jostling for number one status as visitor magnets. “The economic benefits of travel and tourism are immense and no country can afford to ignore this fact in their future developmental planning.Nowhere in the region has escaped the volatility of investment in the tourism sector. Hotels and resorts in the Bahamas, Jamaica, Barbados, Antigua, and Cayman have been bought and sold as a result of the biggest financial crisis since the Great Depression of the 1930s,” he said.