TORONTO — The Saint Lucia Tourism Authority is working hard to get its share of the Canadian market’s sky-high demand for travel, hosting a VIP lunch this week in Toronto to help keep the Caribbean island top of mind.

Saint Lucia’s Minister of Tourism, Dr. Ernest Hilaire, and CEO of the Saint Lucia Tourism Authority, Lorine Charles-St. Jules, both attended the lunch, held at Harriet’s Rooftop at 1 Hotel Toronto.

Like many destinations, the SLTA says 2019 was its best year for tourism arrivals. The good news is, the first quarter of 2023 has seen 80% of the numbers from the same period in 2019. Even better, April 2023 was up to 97% of April 2019. The SLTA believes that stronger numbers and new visitors from the Canadian market are the keys to a full recovery and then growth.

To get Canadians there, Air Canada now has three flights a week during the summer season instead of just one. Flights operate Sundays, Wednesdays and Fridays. Air Canada’s Saint Lucia schedule increases to daily flights for the peak winter season. The SLTA’s goal is for daily nonstop flights from YYZ to Saint Lucia year-round, to really make it easy for Canadian travellers to reach the destination. WestJet offers direct, nonstop service once a week on Sundays.

To attract tourists to Saint Lucia, there’s been a shift in focus from resort-based experiences to community-based experiences: for example, the world’s only drive-in volcano and sulphur mud baths. There are plenty of activities such as hiking, diving and bird watching, or seeing the parrot fish in the reef. New attractions include a new chocolate experience and bamboo rafting through mango swamps in Roseau.

Events are also a big draw. After a hiatus, the Jazz & Arts Festival is returning, and is slated for April 30 – May 12, 2024. Meanwhile, Saint Lucia Carnival 2023 (July 1 – 19, 2023) will be a grand showcase of the island’s rich culture, culminating in a two-day parade of the bands on July 17 and 18. Also, don’t miss the island’s Spa & Wellness Month this September.

Saint Lucia is currently running a ‘Summer Saint Lucia Style’ promotion with rates at many hotels and experiences at a discount. Travellers can save up to 65% at more than 40 properties until Sept. 30.

Closer to home, starting June 19 for four weeks in Toronto, Saint Lucia will completely take over Union Station and the York/Bay Concourse with digital advertising.

Travelweek had the chance to sit down with Minister of Tourism Dr. Ernest Hilaire, and SLTA’s CEO Lorine Charles-St. Jules, at this week’s event for a Q&A.

Travelweek: How did the Canadian market perform for Saint Lucia this past winter?

Minister Hilaire: “Canada was the last major international market to really open again, and the other major markets like the U.S. and UK opened a lot more than Canada did, but when we look at the performance of Canada for the first quarter of this year, we saw an increase of 150% over last year. Canada is almost back to normal. We are really pleased that, since re-opening, the Canadian market has been able to rebound so quickly and so strongly. We are looking forward to the summer when we will probably be above where we were in 2019, which will be a phenomenal achievement.”

Travelweek: Do you have any sense of how forward bookings are looking from Canada to Saint Lucia for this summer and, also, for the coming winter?

Charles-St. Jules: “We are pleased to say that we have just spoken to some of our operators, as well as the airlines, and we are looking healthy for the summer. So, we are here this week for a sales, trade and media mission, and we hope to further accentuate our offerings to Canadians. We are very encouraged by what we have seen so far, but there’s still more space so we encourage any Canadian who wants to come down to Saint Lucia, we have plenty of space available and we will be having nonstop flights beginning in the winter from Air Canada every day.”

Travelweek: What’s new in Saint Lucia that you want Canadian agents to know about?

Charles-St. Jules: “If you sell Saint Lucia, we want to remind you of our program called ‘Saint Lucia Loyalty Agent Program.’ We’re doing an independent fam program that runs from June to November, [and] if you’ve not been to Saint Lucia before, now is the time, especially since we have the summer service, we encourage agents to come down and see and experience Saint Lucia for themselves so they can come back and sell the island to their clients. We’re also again hosting our ‘Global Piton Awards,’ which is what we call our ‘Oscars in Travel’, where we celebrate and honour the best producing and selling travel agents around the world. We will be selecting 40 of those globally. We encourage Canadians to continue selling Saint Lucia and register their bookings in the system, and they may be selected to go to Saint Lucia for a hosted visit.”

More about Saint Lucia can be found at stlucia.org.