Presentations - 3rd Growth and Resilience Dialogue With Social Partners

Better inter-islands connectivity through improved Ferry transport as a potential solution • Creating a more attractive tourism offering: • Survey of travel agents within OECS and tour operators outside the region suggested that facilitating intra- OECS ferry travel could increase tourism: • 81 percent of travel agents say that clients frequently enquire about traveling around the Eastern Caribbean by ferry. • Similarly, about 90 percent of tour operators say that clients often enquire about multi-destination holidays to the Eastern Caribbean. • Nearly 77 percent of the respondents believe that a regional ferry service could increase intra-OECS tourism by over 10 percent.

The true story of a normal small business owner in Grenada (name changed) Kosmo Amonhana owns a printing business in St. George’s, Grenada. His clients are mainly small businesses in Grenada. When the major printing company in St. Lucia went bust, and consumers were scrambling to find substitutes, he had the opportunity to capture that market, take printing orders from St. Lucia, and ship the finished goods back to St. Lucia. What prevented him from expanding his business was his inability to get the finished goods to his customers in St. Lucia in a cost-effective and reliable manner due to connectivity and transport issues between the islands.

• Widen the markets and business opportunities