Tourism has always been fraught with danger as both the 9/11 attacks and the 2008 worldwide economic recession proved, to say nothing of the 2020 pandemic which ushered in lockdowns and other public health measures.
Many Caribbean governments, including this one, have attempted diversification to deal with the geopolitical, socioeconomic and now public health care shocks which may lead to our economy being irreparably damaged. The enormous sway in which tourism holds in our economic debates is inescapable, contributing to 65% of GDP and being our main foreign exchange earner. However, the lure of tourism continues to be explored to the detriment of many of the concepts which make us unique.
From proposed destruction of mangroves, to the eradication of abattoirs to the ignorance of other economic avenues, to the intrusion on many local friendly beaches the need to feed the tourism beast seems endless. It doesn’t help that parties speak out of one side of their mouths during the periods in opposition and then when they become sitting members of Parliament with the heft they do otherwise. They criticize each other for the lack of new tourism rooms being built during tenures yet often herald the need to diversify the economy to survive future shocks.
The loud outcry as word came of Cabot Saint Lucia and their purported desecration of Amerindian burial grounds and the gentrification of another scenic aspect of our sacred experience seemed to dim soon after. A’ILA Resorts and the Mount Pimard construction were given a go with many of the same issues echoed before no longer a cause for concern. The Vigie Beach proposal has elicited similar outcry from denizens of the area in much the same manner Choseuilians bemoaned the transformation of Sabwisha into a seeming enclave for the rich and famous. We all know how the change begins once an all-inclusive finds itself on the King’s Chain, security guards and general managers become united in their defence of their property. Locals are treated as second class citizens and often threatened despite the public access to all beaches. If there is a citizen who lacks such a story then they are truly lucky.
Why do we seek to continue to perpetuate this reality? Will we be satisfied until each beach is populated by a hotel? For some the lure of economic activity, tax generation and those benefits are enough to erect monstrosities on our beaches, including the few which we can say are local appeal and continually accessible to us without the fear of being otherised. The party that stood vehemently against PMA building on what was private property, now seems to be okay with the erection of another plantation by the sea.
The opposition is not a partner in the fight despite current pronouncements, because they authorized villas inside the PMA and continue to echo the love for the Pearl of the Caribbean. Environmental impact assessments and the love for the environment seem solely based on where one sits during the Parliamentary period.
Must we continue to bow before the gods of Tourism and the neoliberal, neocolonial ideals that both parties seem beholden to in order for us to survive. Despite the vehement denunciation of the idea that our credit rating is our patrimony and not our people. But rather it should be Pigeon Point, or the iconic Pitons, Sulphur Springs, Mamiku Gardens or Makote Mangroves. It appears that there are many similarities between the tourism first people and what changes is the color of the ties they wear on Tuesdays.
So who can we depend on in this time and place? Who can save us from the colonization of our beaches before they become cannibalized remnants of what makes them uniquely ours?
That my dear Saint Lucia is the question.