Above: St Lucia

By the Caribbean Journal staff

Air arrivals to St Lucia have increased by 5 percent in the first half of 2013, the government announced Wednesday.

The increase was driven by growth from the United States market, according to Louis Lewis, director of the St Lucia tourist Board.

“That has everything to do with the strategies that we have implemented so far, a number of them being led by public relations, getting strategic media out there in the market place to create that demand,” he said. “We’ve also had a number of familiarization trips with travel agents which we have been able to target very closely because of a programme that we have called the Saint Lucia specialist.”

Lewis pointed to events like the St Lucia Jazz and Arts Festival as a “major factor” in the improvement, as part of what he called a “strategic move” to increase airlift out of North America.

United Airlines launched service to St Lucia earlier this month.

“We saw an increase in capacity from Jet Blue this year,” Lewis said. “We also saw an increase in capacity from US Airways as well as from Delta Airlines and now we have United and we are confident that based on the performance United has shown right through to March next year, we should be talking to them of a schedule of three or six. “