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ST.LUCIA – SIMPLY THE BEST IN 2004
St. Lucia is known throughout the rest of the Caribbean and the entire global community for its breathtaking scenery, lush vegetation, rich cultural heritage and friendly people to name a few attributes. However, St. Lucia is making waves and gaining recognition on the international front not only for its beauty but its quality of tourism product.
The island’s tourism officials have over the years positioned the island to be classified as a boutique destination geared towards the “high-end” travel consumer, a stance necessary in the Caribbean region where all countries are blessed with similar features of sand, sea and sun. This differentiation, which is mirrored in the superior standard of the tourism product, has placed St.Lucia in a prime position to deliver to its visitors the St.Lucian Experience. This move for branding has been beneficial to the island as the year 2004 was an extremely good one for St. Lucia having received countless awards from various prestigious travel and tourism related institutions.
Perhaps the most highly ranked award is that of the “5-Star Diamond Award for Excellence” from the American Academy of Hospitality Studies granted to St. Lucia in November of 2004. This famed prize has only been bestowed to two other nations, but never before presented to a Caribbean island, a feat St. Lucia has accomplished. This highlights not only the superior value of its tourism product but also the continued great efforts of stakeholders within the tourism industry in ensuring the sustainability of the industry.
Travel Agent Magazine, which boasts the most extensive travel agent readership base internationally, concurred that St. Lucia was an island of simply beautiful proportions and thus featured St. Lucia’s tourism Minister Hon. Philip J. Pierre, on the cover of their November 1st issue. The story that ensued described the island with its strong combination of natural beauty and forward thinking individuals who were determined to sustain the current growth of the island’s tourism industry. Additionally, Caribbean Star, one of the region’s leading airlines, also recognized the value of the island and therefore crowned the island the “Best Caribbean Destination for 2004”.
The island’s romantic appeal has also been duly noted by several establishments and is reflected in the fact that the Weddings and Honeymoon Market is St. Lucia largest and fastest growing niche market. St. Lucia has received for the third consecutive year, the honour of being proclaimed the “World’s Leading Honeymoon Destination” from the renowned World Travel Awards body. The World Travel Awards is held yearly and is seen globally as being an event aimed towards highlighting significant achievements and contributions in the tourism industry.
Caribbean Travel and Life Magazine in their 4th Annual Reader’s Choice Best of the Caribbean Awards also supported this claim by naming St. Lucia to be “The Most Romantic Destination” in early 2004. St. Lucia also received from the same body, the award for Best Adventure Destination which attests to the island’s diversity in activities. Caribbean Travel and Life is a Caribbean focused consumer magazine which seeks to inform its readers on several countries and differing cultures as well as reviews on a vast number of resorts, restaurants, attractions and beaches.
Modern Bride, one of the top bridal magazines in the US surveyed travel agents across the nation, to devise its annual list of the World’s 50 Best Honeymoons. As a result of this survey, St. Lucia was ranked the “fifth best Honeymoon Destination and one of the Most Secluded Honeymoon Destinations in the World”. The island was classed together with recognized leading honeymoon destinations such as Hawaii, Jamaica, Mexico and Tahiti who made this survey’s top four list; and ranked ahead of several Caribbean competitors such as US Virgin Islands, Aruba and Bermuda as well as an international contender, Italy.
As further testament to the superior quality of St. Lucia’s tourism product, several hotels were the proud recipients of many famed awards. In 2004, Anse Chastanet was one of the hotels on the island to receive a number of awards. The readers of Caribbean Travel and Life voted the resort to be among the “Top 12 most romantic resorts in the Caribbean” in its annual Readers’ Choice Awards. This sentiment was echoed by Arts and Entertainment TV who named Anse Chastanet to be “One of the world’s top 10 romantic resorts”. The resort was also named to be “One of the most romantic spas in the US and Caribbean by Spa’s Finder’s 2004 Reader’s Choice Awards”. In addition to these distinctions, the hotel was proclaimed to be amongst the 500 leading hotels of the World by the readers of Travel and Leisure magazine.
The BodyHoliday at Lesport also achieved recognition from the World Travel Awards by being named the “Best Caribbean Spa Resort” in 2004 for the third successive year. In addition, the hotel was bestowed the prestigious “Crystal Award” by Spafinder Magazine for being the Best Spa in the Caribbean/Central America/ South America. Condé Nast Traveler, considered as being one of the premier magazines catering to persons interested in travel, culture and adventure, has presented The BodyHoliday with a number of awards in 2004. The spa resort was voted the “Second Top Hotel in the World for Facilities in the Americas and the Caribbean”. The readers of Condé Nast Traveler also voted this resort to be the number three in “Overseas Leisure Hotels in the Caribbean and the Americas”. They also ranked fifth in the Overseas Spa Hotels grouping and tenth in the Overseas Spa Resorts category by the same awarding body.
Condé Nast Traveler Readers Choice Awards also named Jalousie Hilton Resort and Spa the 11th top Resort in the Caribbean. Moreover, Ladera Resort was awarded the title of being the third finest hotel in the Caribbean.
With all these accomplishments under her belt, St. Lucia the Helen of the West Indies has shown the World that although she is simply beautiful; she is also fiercely competitive and emerges to be simply the best.
For the Best in St. Lucia Category (2004 World Travel Awards), the winners are:
Jalousie Hilton Resort & Spa - St. Lucia's Leading Hotel
Sandals Grande Spa & Resort - St. Lucia's Leading Resort
The Body Holiday & Le Sport - St. Lucia's Leading Spa Resort
Cap Pavilion - St. Lucia's Leading Villa
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