Sustainable Tourism in St. Lucia

The report evaluates the sustainability of St. Lucia's tourism sector under trade liberalization. While tourism is a primary driver of GDP and employment, the sector suffers from high foreign exchange leakage due to foreign ownership and package tours. Environmental concerns include rising energy consumption and wastewater mismanagement, while GATS obligations are identified as potential barriers to domestic regulatory autonomy.

• Tourism is a critical economic pillar for St. Lucia, accounting for approximately 38 per cent of GDP and 73 per cent of total exports of goods and services.
• The tourism industry in St. Lucia is highly vulnerable to external shocks, as evidenced by a 16 per cent decline in foreign exchange earnings and a 6 per cent reduction in overall GDP between 2001 and 2002 following the September 11 events.
• Significant economic leakage occurs because foreign companies own between 55 to 60 per cent of all hotel rooms, and package-tour visitors—who increased from 35.3 per cent to 59.6 per cent between 2001 and 2003—often have their expenditures captured by operators in developed markets.
• The hotel sector is a major energy consumer, accounting for an average of 17 per cent of total energy consumption on the island, with consumption increasing by 29 per cent from 1999 to 2003.
• While solid waste generation by the hotel sector is low (less than 3 per cent of total solid waste) and has decreased, wastewater treatment remains deficient, with plant effluent exceeding guideline values and damaging coastal ecosystems.
• Tourism provides significant local employment, with the hotels and restaurants sub-sector employing an average of 10.2 per cent of the total labour force, showing a trend toward greater gender equality in employment.
• The General Agreement on Trade in Services (GATS) may constrain St. Lucia's policy space, as Most Favoured Nation (MFN) and national treatment rules could make domestic measures—such as carrying-capacity limits or preferential credit for locals—susceptible to challenges as discriminatory trade barriers.
• There is a positive trend in strengthening linkages between tourism and agriculture to reduce import leakages, highlighted by the 2003 selection of St. Lucia as a pilot site for an Oxfam GB Market Access Initiative.

APA

Jules, S. (2005). Sustainable Tourism in St. Lucia. International Institute for Sustainable Development. https://www.iisd.org/system/files/publications/tkn_tourism_stlucia.pdf

Chicago

Jules, Sharmon. Sustainable Tourism in St. Lucia. International Institute for Sustainable Development, 2005. https://www.iisd.org/system/files/publications/tkn_tourism_stlucia.pdf.

Wikipedia

{{cite report |last1=Jules |first1=Sharmon |title=Sustainable Tourism in St. Lucia |publisher=International Institute for Sustainable Development |date=2005 |url=https://www.iisd.org/system/files/publications/tkn_tourism_stlucia.pdf |access-date=17 August 2026 |via=Climate Insights Directory}}

BibTeX

@techreport{jules2005sustainable, author = {Jules, Sharmon}, title = {{Sustainable Tourism in St. Lucia}}, institution = {International Institute for Sustainable Development}, year = {2005}, url = {https://www.iisd.org/system/files/publications/tkn_tourism_stlucia.pdf}, urldate = {2026-08-17}, note = {Indexed by Climate Insights Directory} }