It’s nighttime at Anse La Ray, a fishing village on St Lucia’s south coast where locals and tourists jostle, anxious to taste the day’s catch. Fried king fish in an herbed batter, steamed spiced red snapper, served with bake, indigenous fried bread; roast corns and stuffed crabs lay invitingly on madras cloth covered tables. The April moon, dim lights, pulsating island music and the constant flow of people exchanging money for food, local arts and crafts, give the night a carnival feel.
My eyes drift towards a group of dancing tourists. They seem inebriated and are moving away from the crowd. I run hurriedly over and ask the lean, tanned grey haired man closest to me, “How did you hear about the fish fry?” “Everyone knows about it,” he says. He and his friends have been on the island since December, part of a mostly Canadian, American and European group of boaters who make the Atlantic Rally for Cruisers that culminates in St Lucia, an annual affair.
The world’s wealthiest adventurers, your average sun seeker, locals, all can be found at Anse La Ray, an example of village tourism, an approach, this eastern Caribbean island of 166,000 is using to stimulate its local economy and counter criticism not enough of tourism’s spoils trickle down to the masses.
“It’s like the show you have in the states and Canada called makeover,” says Minister of Tourism and Civil Aviation Allen Chastanet of his plans to help small businesses with underutilized, scenic views turn their restaurants and rum shops into profitable tourist attractions.
In St. Lucia, tourism contributes significantly to exports, job creation, GDP, investment and foreign exchange earnings. Approximately 38 per cent of GDP comes from it and 73 per cent of total exports of goods and services according to a 2005 report on Sustainable Tourism in St. Lucia by development expert Sharmon Jules.
Hotels and restaurants employ about 10 per cent of the labour force, however poverty hovers around 30%. With the recent melt down of US financial institutions and the resulting global recession, there has been job loss and visitor numbers are down, but not dramatically, says Chastanet. Low airfares through Canada’s West Jet airlines and the availability of inexpensive hotels have helped.
A lush hilly island with 158 kilometers of coastline, one of St Lucia’s recent boasts is the multi-million dollar renovation of its east coast Rodney Bay Marina by American Andrew Farkas, the CEO and founder of Island Global Yachting, the world’s premier owner and manager of luxury marinas.
With five star hotels that serve haute cuisine, sandy beaches and spectacular views of its rising volcanic peaks, the Grand and Petit Pitons, St Lucia offers an exotic cocktail to the rich and powerful, who now own a significant part of this island paradise.“The largest demand has been in the real estate sector and that has been not because of expected return, but because people genuinely want to spend time in St Lucia,” says Chastanet. However, an estimated 55 to 60 percent of hotel rooms are foreign owned and foreign investors repatriate as much as 56 percent of foreign exchange earnings from tourism, according to Jules’ report.
As if in response to the 2005 paper, in 2007, the government took steps to reduce foreign exchange leakage, instituting a policy reserving investment in hotels below an internationally recognized four-star standard, for St. Lucian locals.
One hotel owned by St. Lucian nationals is Coco Palm near Rodney Bay Village. With fabrics and mahogany furniture representing the island’s colorful French, English and African Creole history, suites face a large winding swimming pool with water warm enough for southing night swims.Throughout my four day stay at Coco Palm, I dine on dishes with a local twist. From an exotic breakfast of salt fish, sautéed with onions herbs and capers at the hotel’s Ti Bananne restaurant, to sumptuous coco mahi mahi on coconut rice, courtesy of the eco lodge LAderA’s Jamaican Executive Chef, Orlando Satchell. All this points to less dependency on imports and more farmers' products feeding locals and tourists.
With its popular annual May jazz music festival and summer carnival, St Lucian local foods and cultural traditions are being preserved and showcased.
Village tourism is now the poster child for progress and Chastanet says he plans to involve unions in an education campaign to help locals understand the industry and how it can work for them. His message, “In order to maximize what we have, we must appreciate what the tourist is looking for.”
Eco-tourism is also a part of St Lucia’s sustainable development strategy. In 2003 a deal with the French pumped fourteen million euros into the rehabilitation of roads vital to the development of eco-tourism. In 2002 the island hosted the 5th Annual Caribbean Tourism Organisation Sustainable Tourism Conference, showing off its environmental management systems to members. It also recently developed twelve eco-friendly camping sites and sent youth to Canada to participate in Nova Scotia’s Sustainable Development Youth Exchange Programme.
While St Lucia seems to be surviving the recession, whether the St Lucian government continues its effort to preserve an island paradise where power actually aids progress, depends on economic recovery, as well as policies and practices that are designed for the long term and not just one night’s dance.{w}
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