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PRESS RELEASE
18th August 2004

Continental Considers Enhanced St. Lucia Service

International carrier Continental Airlines has expressed interest in beginning a new scheduled service to St. Lucia.  The Minister of Tourism Hon. Philip J Pierre, the Director of Tourism Hilary Modeste and SLTB Regional Marketing Manager Lorraine St. Jules met with top officials of Continental in Newark, NJ last week to discuss the possibility of the new flight.

Continental Airlines is scouting new areas for market expansion in the region and has singled out St. Lucia. After analyzing St. Lucia’s destination statistics for the past three years, the airline’s Strategic Planning Manager Alex Heiter described St. Lucia’s growth in arrivals as impressive. According to official statistics for the Caribbean St. Lucia is one of the fastest growing tourism destinations in the region.

In the past two years the island has been able to increase its airlift from major markets, namely the US and the UK, “In the past two years we have been able to attract a new service from Delta Airlines, renewed interest from American Airlines, a new flight from British Midlands International and increased service from Virgin Atlantic. This suggests that we are hitting the right notes in the market with our promotions as well as the quality of our product,” says Minister of Tourism Hon. Philip J Pierre.

The recent preliminary round of talks with Continental will be followed by another meeting in six weeks time when the airline will present concrete plans for the proposed flight.