Published on : Wednesday, December 26, 2018
Earlier this month the parliament of Saint Lucia voted to borrow US$100 million for the Hewanorra International Airport redevelopment project.
In the days to come the plans will be unveiled and will include the construction of a new terminal building equipped with the state-of-the-art facilities, restaurants, shops and executive lounges. The old terminal will be concerted to accommodate fixed-based operators.
An added incentive for the airlines to open new routes to the destination will be offered by the Saint Lucia Tourism Authority.
Saint Lucia tourism minister, Dominic Fedee said that they had exhausted the current capacity of the Hewanorra International Airport. While the redevelopment project is part of our government’s broader plan to expand the island’s room stock by 50 per cent in the next eight years.
There are more than 5,000 rooms spread across large and small hotels, villas , guest house and apartments in Saint Lucia.
Acting chief executive of the Saint Lucia Tourism Authority, Tiffany Howard applauded the new development which was great news for the tourism industry.
There will be more airlift into the island and a new airport will leverage it along with passengers is a huge asset. Around 400,000 stayover visitors every year is being welcomed by Saint Lucia and the largest number is from the US market followed by Caribbean, the UK and Canada.
A US $35 airport development charge on each arrival to finance the US$100 million loan from the Taiwanese government was institute by the government last year.
In 2019 the construction of the new airport will start and it is expected that the entire facility will be functional by the end of 2020.