Travel Agent chatted with St. Lucia’s Director of Tourism Louis Lewis Tuesday and learned that the destination could be mere days away from securing a new nonstop flight from New Jersey, which would replace a good number of seats lost when American Airlines canceled its nonstop flight from New York's John F. Kennedy International Airport in January.
“The reason we didn’t have phenomenal growth this year was because we lost that American flight,” Lewis says of the destination’s 6.5-percent drop in arrivals from this time last year. “We are in discussions with a major carrier. In fact, that will be this week. If we can get that deal done, it will be a major help to the destination.”
Lewis, however, declined to give us the name of the carrier.
Lewis also told us that the destination is looking to branch off of its success in the romance niche by segueing into the health and wellness market. In fact, the destination’s top health and wellness resort, The BodyHoliday, is undergoing a $20 million renovation and the town of Soufriere is hosting a series of wellness retreats throughout the year.
“We feel like health and wellness are heavily related to romance as well and we’ve been so good in the romance department for so long, so we feel we can be equally as successful in this niche,” he says.
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