Community Tourism Agency Signs Funding Agreement

by Virgil Leonty A handful of local tourism projects will benefit from a financial agreement between the CARICOM Development Fund and Saint Lucia’s Community Tourism Agency. The agreement will allow for the development of four tourism projects namely, the building of a shrine to honor the victims of the violent attack on the Castries Cathedral, the upgrade of the Morne Lay-by, the revitalization of the Denney Fish Fiesta, and a sea moss project in Praslin. The four projects are part of a plan to revitalize community tourism. The signing ceremony took place on March 6. The CARICOM Development Fund will provide $2.4 million while the Government of Saint Lucia will inject the sum of $385,000. This latest agreement between the CDF and the Community Tourism Authority is the final component of a package of projects planned for Saint Lucia, worth a total of $8 million. Chief Executive Officer at the CARICOM Development Fund, Mr. Rodinald Soomer, offered glowing praise for the concept of community tourism. He said CARICOM hopes to adopt the model for implementation in other parts of the region. “We would like to replicate this as a model program across the region because of the way it integrates...