“This crisis and its aftermath give us the opportunity to chart a new course which will ensure an increased standard of living and quality of life for our citizens if we chart a strategic and focused path to our goals”. These are the words of Sir Dwight Venner speaking recently at a National Consultation on the Economy in St Kitts.
It is reported that Sir Dwight went on to describe the core issues for OECS states as follows
a. achieving sustainable growth over an extended period of time
- achieve a doubling of per capita incomes by the year 2030
- the reduction of unemployment to below four per cent
- substantial reduction and possible eradication of poverty
- improvement in the Human Development Indices of the United Nations
- attaining and surpassing the Millennium Development Goals
- a diversified and competitive economy.
He further stated that “this will require a growth rate of three per cent consequent upon a phase of adjustment…, moving to 5 to 7 per cent from about 2017 and onwards,”.
On the website of the ECCB in the section on Working Papers, there is an interesting paper entitled ACCOMOMDATIONS, OCCUPATION RATES AND ECCU TOURISM DEVELOPMENT written by Ronald James and Allister Hodge. The research is instructive to the OECS Governments as they chart a way forward in their economies.
The Research Paper makes the following specific conclusions for St Lucia, if tourism remains the platform for economic growth:
- To achieve a 3 % Growth rate would require a 10 % increase in visitor arrivals for St Lucia
- The Occupancy Rate will have to be maintained at over 70% for St Lucia
- For St Lucia to achieve its full Tourism potential it would require an additional 2907 room or about 19 new hotels.
It is a tall and almost impossible task and thus it is clear that while tourism can contribute to the upward trajectory of our economy, it does not have the energy on its own to pull the economy at the required rate of speed.
There is need for creativity to be birthed in our approaches to generate this needed economic growth. The recommendations in the ECCB Working Paper suggested that efforts should be made to increase the occupancy levels within the hotels. While the traditional concepts of branding and increase marketing have been pursued, it is still astonishing to me that the focus has not been on the low seasons. Even if St. Lucia were to stop all marketing in 2015, there will still be a very high occupancy in the high season from repeat visitors.
How do you push occupancy up from 64.9% in St Lucia to 100 %. You have to look at the culture of the visitor. The North American and European visitor comes in the winter season to get away from the cold. The regional traveler takes a vacation in the months June to September because that is when schools are closed, they also like to spend Christmas at home.
There are two significant markets that must be targeted within the region, these are the French islands of Martinique and Guadeloupe as a group and Trinidad and Tobago. I went on the Caribbean Airlines website and booked a ticket from Trinidad to Miami, it costed $ 453.61 USD, the flight from Trinidad to St Lucia costed $ 451.60 USD. How could you attract any regional visitor with such a temptation?
If the Government pursues a deliberate stimulus with the Hotel sector, begins a campaign for the low occupancy months with the removing the taxes and charges on regional travel, we will see a significant increase in regional visitor arrivals. So if you are staying in a Hotel in the North which is in the program, you get the stay-cation rate as well as the reduced cost of travel due to the removal of the taxes and charges.
The focus has to be to move to 100 % occupancy levels by a well thought out approach involving the research into the causes of every hotel’s occupancy rate, and then to work individually with every hotelier to bring up occupancy levels. The St Lucia Tourist Board should establish a special unit tasked to visit every hotel and to generate recommendations to increase occupancy levels. These concepts may include hotel guest profiling, and improving on the hotel’s data base to generate relevant information for targeted promotions during the low season.
Sir Dwight also spoke of the rethink that is required by the Financial Sector, he said;
“The financial sector in the ECCU also has to be restructured to be an effective instrument for the mobilization of savings and their allocation to production instead of the overwhelming portion going to consumption activities”.
Not only should the financial sector be so minded, I will also include the Trade Unions and the Governments. Why can’t a pay increase to Public Servants be a stock option. Can we consider that a back-pay be given as shares in Bank Of St Lucia or in LUCELEC.? Can a civil servant be a shareholder in a special purpose company that has constructed a building which is now rented to the Government, with the shares coming from the pay increase that is due to her? It is these innovative approaches that can transform an economy. Sir Dwight is right, we need to change our way of approaching our future by charting a strategic and focused path to our goals.