PRESS RELEASE – IMMEDIATELY following Saint Lucia Week in the United Kingdom, Minister for Tourism, Dominic Fedee and Chairperson of the Saint Lucia Tourism Authority (SLTA), Agnes Francis, attended the 23rd World Routes Development Forum in Barcelona, Spain.
The World Routes Forum presents an unrivalled platform for route development professionals to discuss, develop and plan network strategy. This year, World Routes was attended by 3,000 delegates representing 130 Tourism Authorities, 110 countries, 300 airlines and 700 airports.
Fedee and Francis conducted face-to-face meetings with officials from 8 airlines, including Condor/Thomas Cook, British Airways, Southwest Airlines, Virgin Atlantic and Delta Airlines. The meetings provided the forum to discuss opportunities to increase service to the destination and the possibility of adding services out of new gateways.
Officials also held discussions with Azul Brazilian Airlines and Air France to examine opportunities for airlift out of Latin America and direct service out of France.
Tourism officials also met with Spirit Airlines, an ultra-low-cost carrier out of the United States, which expressed great interest in working with the destination to increase airlift out of the United States.
“Brazil and France represent significant opportunities for growth. Tour operators in these markets are showing increased interest in selling our destination. Airlift represents our largest hurdle with these markets. We will continue to work with airline stakeholders like Azul and Air France to explore the opportunities to gain access to these large and lucrative markets,” said Francis.