The Caribbean ‘not just a beach’

So says Dominic Feedee, St Lucia’s minister of Tourism, Information and Broadcasting.

Drawing reference to his own journey to TT for the 4th Encounter of the Inter American and Caribbean Network of Small Hotels at which he was speaking, Feedee said small hotels provided that “indigenous” touch to visits that larger hotels could not.

“Here I am staying in this unique place, in this unique part of Port-of-Spain with mixed use, residential and commercial and living among local people.

I had the most amazing taxi driver who picked me up at the airport. When I asked him to try some local food, he took me to have some doubles. A Trini experience.” He said that was an experience large hotels could not match because they were usually all inclusive and had a “factory operation”.

He said it was sad that more opportunities were not taken to include these local experiences in Caribbean travel packages as these had the ability to differentiate the region in a very competitive market. This was especially important given the region’s dependence on tourism.

Quoting figures for his own country and Aruba, Feedee said 60 per cent of St. Lucia’s GDP depended on tourism while 90 per cent of Aruba’s was.

“Even in oil rich Trinidad,” he told the audience, “they are coming to understand the importance of tourism.” Saying that it was time to dispel the myth of the Caribbean as “just a beach”, Feedee said current research showed that cruise ships and casinos were out of favour with Millennials.

“They are looking for more experiential type vacation packages. They are not looking for hotels on the beach anymore. They are looking for experiences like the one I had.” Moreover, he said tour operators in the UK and Canada were also seeking small hotels for more customised “Airbnb” type packages.

Because of their size, Feedee said, small hotels were best able to respond to these emerging trends.

The St Lucian tourism minister criticised lecturers who socialised generations of Caribbean nationals to believe that tourism was just another form of slavery.

“That is misconstruing the role this industry could play,” said Feedee.

He also said being a small hotel did not mean that the product offering was cheap or of low quality.

Drawing reference to his own country again, Feedee said some of the most awarded and most profitable hotels were under 75 rooms, mentioning specifically the Hotel Chocolat, which had around 10.

“Here we had this derelict cocoa plantation. No one knew what to do with it. A guy from England came and said. I am going to put some cottages here and develop a chocolate themed vacation. The concept creates great PR. Every journalist that comes wants to write about Hotel Chocolat. People come to experience what life was like on a cocoa plantation and learning to “dance the cocoa”.” “That is where the industry is moving to. That is what people are looking for. Unique experiences.”