This headline phrase was coined in the early-1970s by the late great Willie James, a veteran Canada-based Saint Lucian communicator who returned home to serve as Government’s Public Relations Officer.
It was a period that started in 1964, when the United Workers Party (UWP) first took office and continued between Statehood in 1967 and Independence in 1979.
That 12-year period also welcomed an expanding middle-class, with development of housing communities in Castries (like at Entrepot and Sans Soucis) welcomed by teachers and Public Servants who could now afford to own their first homes.
Willie’s catchy phrase did catch-on as a popular partisan political theme to support the government and ruling party, but it also glossed-over the conditions in working class Castries communities like Conway, Faux-a-Chaud, Wilton’s Yard (Graveyard), Leslie Land, Marchand, etc.
Fast-forward five decades and the island has more reason to identify with ‘Happiness’ – this time from a report in an Irish medium citing Soufriere, the island’s veritable tourism capital, as the second-best destination visitors say make them happy.
The research, conducted by Irish travel insurance specialists JustCover, analysed more than one million online reviews across 155 popular holiday destinations worldwide.
The study assessed ‘the frequency of words and phrases associated with genuine happiness and positive experiences,’ using the findings to calculate a “Happy Place” score for each location.
Soufrière earned 95.2 out of 100, placing it second only to Tulum, Mexico, which claimed the top position with 100.
Oaxaca – also in Mexico — followed in third place with a score of 88.
The positive report is healthy for the island’s tourism, as its findings firmly wedged Saint Lucia between the two top Mexican destinations and beating others in Brazil, Canada, French Polynesia, Italy, Maldives, Turkey – and six in the USA, including Austin, Chicago, New Orleans, New York and Las Vegas.
Soufriere’s tourism authorities are understandably happy about their town being described as ‘the second-happiest place in the world’.
Bravo!
But, is that report enough to make the island’s Tourism Authority ‘The Second-Happiest in The World?
Happiness is an existential personal reality rooted in Time and History that has lived with Humanity forever.
Indeed, a fully-loaded report like this is absolutely good news for the island’s tourism industry’s communicators.
But the town’s tourism planners must be careful not to sound or seem like balkanizing the island to claim village points, because, at the end of the day, the ultimate destination of each Soufriere visitor is Saint Lucia.
The tourism planners, if inspired by the report, will have much to do to start catering for at-least double the number of visitors before the next grand tourist seasons in 2027 and 2028.
But there are other agencies that annually publish Happiness indexes, that put Scandinavians above the rest in Europe – and the world.
Which all boils down to how Happiness is measured.
Today, different yardsticks are used, but Happiness is, essentially, a state of mind best manifested through smiles and laughter, generated by an inner feeling.
After Willie James’ phrase settled in local minds, it was later adapted to a little-more-verbose creole (Kweyol) version: ‘Happiness ka fan chou-nou!’ — essentially underlining how ultra-carefree and capriciously careless islanders can be in pursuit of the happiness of being seen to be having a good time…
Problem is, however, when ‘happiness’ is treated like an antidote to worrying or caring about the recurring daily problems people may face, it cannot be fair – even to those who believe or show they’ve found true happiness, while it remains ever-elusive to so-many.
Happiness is actually immeasurable.
In today’s real world, even the Bobby Mc Ferrin’s forever 1988 hit song ‘Don’t Worry, Be Happy!’ will be wrong advice to people everywhere today, in a world where happiness is becoming more of an endangered state of mind and being.
To simply advertise ‘happiness’ to lure visitors does nothing to bring smiles to those ashore whose unhappiness remains invisible and locked deep inside.
It suggests people should simply no-longer care about anything and just switch the world off — and care only about making oneself seen to be or feel happy.
But, it’s impossible to agree on one definition for something that means many different things to many different people – in this case, what makes one happy.
Same with ‘sadness’, which is the opposite expression generated by the same sets of internal combustions of negative feelings and thoughts.
However, today’s people must avoid what my generation described as mistaking ‘butter for fat’ or expecting ‘sardines in a corned-beef tin…’
There’s absolutely nothing wrong with wishing people to ‘be happy’, but although thoroughly well-meaning, it’s just an expression of an invisible feeling that can be neither measured or judged on the basis of how one might say or seem to feel.
People’s sorrows and miseries are usually hidden deep as personal blues that breed societal shame if admitted or revealed, but which exists everywhere – like being unable to repay loans for mortgages, house rent, medical and health needs, or from broken — or severed — family relationships, etc.
Happiness in such cases is a state of mind only a person will feel — or wish for and therefore pretend to be — to mask the discomfort of appearing unhappy.
Meanwhile, the nation (and not only Soufriere) continues to bask in the sunshine of raving reviews for its attractiveness, this time from a July 15, 2026 feature published by Travel Writer Tyler Fox in the publication ‘Travel Off Path’.
It described ‘Saint Lucia’ as ‘an underrated paradise’ with ideal weather, with dramatic volcanic landscapes and lush mountains, iconic Piton peaks, volcanic beaches and natural hot springs, offering key attractions that distinguish Saint Lucia from many of the Caribbean’s flatter, all-inclusive tourism markets.
The publication credits (the island’s) consistently pleasant climate to its overall mountainous terrain and steady northeast Tradewinds, which help moderate temperatures year-round and create ideal conditions for outdoor activities, hiking and sight-seeing.