The Department of Tourism, Investment, Creative Industries, and Culture has launched a new effort to assist tourism operators in Soufrière with achieving official certification, as part of a wider push to strengthen the island’s tourism product and improve service standards.
The initiative brought tourism stakeholders together for a training session titled “Understanding Tourism Certification”, held at the Cool Breeze Conference Room in New Development, Soufrière.
Permanent Secretary in the Ministry of Tourism Donalyn Vittet said the session reflects the Government’s commitment to supporting tourism businesses, particularly in one of Saint Lucia’s premier tourism destinations.
“It is a step to ensure that we do some reach out to the community of Soufrière,” Vittet said.
She noted that Soufrière has continued to earn international recognition as a tourism destination.
“As many persons will know, Soufrière has made a name for itself and even very recently has been named one of the best communities to visit around the world.”
Vittet explained that the ministry’s objective extends beyond simply encouraging certification.
“Essentially our role here today is to hold the hands of some of the operators within the community so that they complete the certification process.”
She said participants were provided with an overview of the certification process, its importance and the advantages it offers businesses.
“So we are providing the overview of certification, we’re giving the reasons why they should ensure that they’re certified and the benefits of certification.”
The ministry also intends to provide continued support to help operators satisfy certification requirements.
“Going a step further to hold their hand to ensure that they meet the certification requirements and any work that’s required that we could do with them as time unfolds.”
Business Development Officer for Soufrière, Tanzanian Fedee, said the programme is designed to accommodate a broad cross-section of tourism operators.
“Doing both accommodation and sites and attractions with incentives for concession. Marine base is also welcome.”
He noted that while many established businesses already have a presence in the tourism sector, the programme also seeks to support new entrepreneurs entering the industry.
“So many sites who might’ve been there years ago already had a presence, but it was the new and upcoming ones, which did not have the formalities.”
Fedee stressed that the initiative is not limited to start-ups but also provides opportunities for existing operators to improve their visibility and compliance.
“Not saying that they’re shying away from assisting existing businesses to enhance their visibility and registration, but today they’re also focusing on the new and upcoming startups that are going through their growth and idea stage.”
Vittet said the workshop attracted participants representing a diverse range of tourism services.
“A mix of different businesses today. We have accommodation, we have transportation, we have niche markets, we have sights and attraction, and we even have water-based activities.”
She welcomed the enthusiasm shown by those attending the session and reaffirmed the ministry’s commitment to guiding businesses through the certification process.
“The group is very eager and they’re very excited, and we are here to ensure that by the end of the day, everybody who attends the session has their business certified.”
While acknowledging that certification requires additional steps beyond the workshop, Vittet said ministry officials will continue working directly with participants.
“It will take more than this visit, but our team will do the necessary inspections and assessments to ensure that we work with people like you and me to ensure that the businesses are certified and we can elevate our product in Saint Lucia.”
The certification initiative forms part of ongoing efforts to enhance the quality, competitiveness and professionalism of Saint Lucia’s tourism sector while supporting entrepreneurs in expanding and formalizing their businesses.