The worse may be over for Saint Lucia’s tourism industry – at least that is the expressed optimism of the Tourism Minister. Allen Chastanet says the country has recorded positive arrivals in land and cruise ship based tourism for the first time in months. To be fair – cruise ship arrivals have remained steady and increased – the exhilaration is over land based arrivals.

And although the .2% growth is not large by any standard – for the Tourism Minister it is a positive indication that things may be looking up for the industry. So much so that predictions for arrivals in November and December have been adjusted to double digit expectations.

The Minister is looking ahead to increasing the local market share. He says the Maritime Office mentioned in the April budget of the Prime Minister has received Cabinet approval and will be opened soon. This proposal has already received support from the former General Manager of the IGY Rodney Bay Marina who also indicated an interest in heading the new division.

The Tourism Minister wants to make Saint Lucia the centre for yachting in this part of the region. He says the potential and investment is there to make that happen. For him – what has been missing is official support.

The focus of the Maritime Office will be the establishment and maintenance of the Maritime Registry. It is a mechanism where vessels register with the country enabling them to fly the country flag – benefitting the country with exposure and fee financing. The Registry will be located in the Ministry of Tourism.

place to ensure a police presence is maintained in the city throughout the busy shopping season. Louis-Fernand says although shaken up, the victim expressed relief that her bag containing her belongings had been secured.
He says she still maintains the island’s people are generally friendly and the incident will not ruin her fond memories of her vacation here. The victim says she won’t be pressing charges but the crowd who gathered outside the City Council were incensed and insisted that the young man be taught a lesson.

Transparency international said that among the 31 countries from the Americas included in its 2009 corruption perceptions index – 10 scored above 5, while 21 scored less than five out of ten indicating a serious corruption problem. Overall, nine countries failed to exceed a score of three – indicating rampant corruption. In the survey new Zealand was ranked the least corrupt in the world with a confidence rate of 9.1 to 9.5.

School officials say electricians are working round the clock to rectify the problem. However, the school principal says because of the age of the infrastructure the whole school may have to be re-wired.  Students are scheduled to return to class on Monday. The electricians will be reportedly working through out the weekend to restore the normal supply of power to the school. Meanwhile - the school continues its preparations for its 20th anniversary.

The proponents of STRIDE brought together a wide cross section of private and public sector entities this week to collate the information posted on the website. The OPSR says the website is not only a road map to entrepreneurship but serves as  a repository of information on business ideas, trade, networking and investment.   George says the response to the website has been overwhelmingly positive. The OPSR has contracted the services of a public relations outfit to market and promote the website and the program.

The backers of the STRIDE program say the goal is have the website serve has a one stop for all the information for micro enterprises and small to medium size businesses. The OPSR claimS it is the first initiative of its kind to be undertaken on a grand scale here in Saint Lucia.

The ILO office has offered to provide assistance to its members in relation to the Labour Code that continues not to be approved and implemented. This will come in the form of technical reviews and advice. It is all part of the ILO mandate to provide decent work in keeping with a development goal of island states like Saint Lucia. The ILO office is based in Trinidad – it caters to the English and Dutch speaking countries of the Caribbean.

Advisory Board Chairman, Malcolm Burns, asked that the public not forget while the season remains festive for some, it is not so for all. Burns says St. Lucia has seen an increased number of people living below the poverty line due to the increased cost of living and the impact of the global financial crisis. He says Christmas should be time to remember we are our brother’s keeper.

The St. Lucia Hotel and Tourism Association says it’s proud to do its part by contributing to the Christmas kettle appeal. Representative, Eileen Paul handed over the cheque on behalf of the association. Persons wishing to make contributions to the Kettle Appeal can do so at the Salvation Army headquarters or at all Super J outlets and at S&S store outlets.

The Cultural Development Foundation has given the undertaking its nod of approval. CDF Executive Director Kennedy “Boots” Samuel says the island’s creative arts industry possesses immense talented and prolific individuals. However, he says it has been stagnated by division and a lack of business savvy.

The OECS Export Development Unit is promoting diversification of economies as one possible way to improve the competitiveness of the sub-regional private sector. The creative industry has been identified as a potentially lucrative sector that has been overlooked for far too long. The Strategic planning meeting by the professionals in Action for Creative Enterprise was attended by representatives from the creative arts industry including film, fashion, and music.

Marieatte says the Ministry and schools are also attempting to foster a love for spelling. She says a great source of inspiration to the students was the viewing of the movie Akeelah and the Bee. Mariette says the sort of passion young Akeelah displayed for learning new words is the same sort of passion teachers are trying to spark in students.

LIME, Subway and Trophy centre were sponsors of the Bee. LIME communications executive, Sharlene Jn Baptiste says the telecoms company will provide the first and second place winners with great prizes including Lenova Notebooks and free internet services while the third place winner will receive a new handset. The competition was won by the Clendon Mason Secondary School – she was followed by the Saint Joseph’s Convent and the Soufriere Secondary School in third place.

planned for the annual ARC. Digicel is the main sponsor of ARC activities – most of them taking place at the Marina. The Digicel Country Manager gave an indication of what patrons can expect of this year’s activities. The first boats participating in the ARC are expected to arrive in Saint Lucia in a few weeks.