Saint Lucia’s craft vendors are signaling a major shift in how the sector operates, as they look beyond traditional souvenirs and move toward building a stronger, more competitive creative economy.
The Saint Lucia Craft and Dry Goods Vendors Association is outlining plans for 2026 aimed at modernizing the industry, increasing sales, and positioning local artisans as key contributors to the island’s tourism and cultural landscape.
President of the Association, Peter “Ras Ipa” Isaac, says changing consumer tastes, particularly among cruise ship visitors, are forcing vendors to rethink how they do business.
“What is really happening now within that particular sector is that people really, especially within the cruise ship area where people are catering mostly for tourists, they need to rethink it a lot because the whole dynamics are changing and people are not buying some of these things that are available,” Isaac explained. “Some of these things that we purchase and sell is getting out of style. People are not coming to shop.”
Isaac noted that the decline in demand for traditional items has highlighted the need for new approaches, including targeted training and diversification.
“We may have to have specific workshops dealing with that. How can we diversify? How could we shift from one style of doing business into a next?” he said. “What kind of products we need to start to deal with instead of these regular trinkets that we have. That’s what we need to do, and I think workshops and training sessions would do good.”
He also emphasized the importance of understanding market demand through research. “What must be done too is a survey as to what people are looking for, the people who are coming into the country,” Isaac added.
According to the association president, collaboration with government and greater coordination among local artisans will be critical to the sector’s transformation.
“The government must be part of that whole thing as well, to see how we can bring the artisans of Saint Lucia together,” he said. “If we can bring them together, that would help a lot in terms of getting the knowledge of the goods that is needed, the goods the market is asking for, that they could provide it.”
Isaac believes Saint Lucia already has the raw materials needed to grow the creative sector, but gaps remain in skills, technology, and production capacity.
“We have enough raw material in Saint Lucia, but what we don’t have is the skills, the skill set to deal with it, the equipment, the laser equipment that could do,” he stated. “We need also to mass produce things.”
The association says its 2026 agenda will focus on training, market research, and modernization, with the aim of turning craft vending into a vibrant and sustainable pillar of Saint Lucia’s creative and tourism economy.