SLHTA Clean Up Initiative

On Saturday, October 12, 2013, the Saint Lucia Hotel and Tourism Association (SLHTA) spearheaded a Clean-Up Campaign in the North of the island, under the theme “Saint Lucia – Let’s Keep It Clean”. This initiative formed part of the Association’s efforts to encourage a cleaner environment for visitors and residents alike.

The Clean-Up Campaign took place on from 6:00-10:30am and the areas selected for this clean up initiative was the vicinity of Pigeon Island, the Gros Islet Highway and Rodney Bay.  The SLHTA created various zones which were assigned to participating members to ensure effectiveness and efficiency of the Clean-Up Campaign. It was first anticipated that 150 persons would have taken part in this exercise, but to the amazement of the events committee members a total of 230 employees of the Saint Lucia tourism industry actively participated, again emphasizing the enthusiasm of all of the volunteers that woke up out of their warm beds that morning and was ready to go.

According to the Chairman of the Events Advisory Committee Mr. Daniel Belizaire, “the cleanup campaign was a major success in ensuring that the areas that were tackled on that day were litter free.  Hundreds of bags of garbage were removed on that day and paving the way for the Ministry of Health and the Saint Lucia Solid Waste Management to now move onto the educational aspect of drawing to the attention of the Saint Lucian population the importance of a cleaner environment.”

There was also extensive media coverage for the Event as we attempted to sensitize the general public on the importance of maintaining a “litter free” country as there are negative implications to the Tourism Industry if this is not practiced. This was phase one of a Nationwide Clean-Up Campaign.

The SLHTA Events Committee would like to thank all sponsors and volunteers who supported this worthwhile initiative and welcome their continued support in the future; Advance Building Maintenance Service, Bay Gardens Resorts, Baywalk Shopping Center, Blue Waters, Coco Resorts, Diamonds International, Gros Islet Town Council, Ministry of Health, Ministry of Tourism, Heritage and Creative Industries, RAMCO Plastics, Saint Lucia Solid Waste Management Authority, Saint Lucia Tourist Board,   Sandals Grande St Lucian Spa & Beach Resort, The International School of Leadership, The Visitor Channel, Windjammer Landing Villa Beach Resort, WUT – School of Business

This initiative is another part of the SLHTA community outreach programme.