Saint Lucia’s tourism industry is navigating turbulence following the exit of two major UK carriers—Virgin Atlantic and TUI—from direct London routes, raising questions about the island’s evolving tourism brand and market positioning.
Virgin Atlantic has scrapped its planned winter 2025/26 service from London Heathrow, while TUI will halt its Gatwick-Saint Lucia route by the end of next month. The departures highlight deeper challenges: a shrinking inventory of family-friendly accommodations and Saint Lucia’s rapid transition toward luxury tourism, which risks pricing out key segments of its traditional visitor base.
Tourism Minister Dr Ernest Hilaire cited a “perfect storm” of factors behind Virgin Atlantic’s exit, including a mismatch between the airline’s family-focused UK market and the Saint Lucian market’s growing preference for couples-only resorts.
About 500 rooms, previously tied to mid-tier properties like Starfish and Mystique – which are set to be demolished and rebuilt – have vanished from the market, tightening supply.
“We have promised that there will be more rooms on the market but rooms aren’t ready yet,” Hilaire admitted, underscoring the timing gap between demand and new hotel openings.
The minister acknowledged Saint Lucia’s accelerating reputation as a high-end destination, with rising daily rates alienating budget-conscious travellers.
“…With holiday vacation companies, their price range is a little lower,” Hilaire said. “Saint Lucia is moving rapidly into becoming a luxury destination, so the daily rate is actually getting high…. We need to have a more diverse offering.”
To counter the trend, the government is promoting alternative accommodations like home rentals and advocating for more 2- and 4-star hotels to diversify offerings.
Despite the setbacks, Hilaire struck an optimistic tone, revealing Virgin Atlantic’s intent to return once room capacity expands.
He clarified that the government does not provide minimum revenue guarantees to airlines. Regarding Virgin Atlantic’s 2020 Saint Lucia service resumption, discussions centred on commercial arrangements, including room allocations for Virgin Holidays.
Meanwhile, the Saint Lucia Tourism Authority (SLTA) earlier emphasised that TUI holidays will still be bookable via connecting flights.
The SLTA did not provide a statement to St Lucia Times, but Patricia Charlery-Leon, its UK/Europe Director, told the UK’s GB News that while the news was disappointing, the agency was confident UK arrivals would stabilise.
“SLTA will continue to work with TUI to offer clients a wonderful holiday experience,” Charlery-Leon was quoted as saying.
Very soon, visitor arrivals in Saint Lucia will become less and lesser. Our once-booming UK arrivals will become zero and what’s next? Somebody will start blaming somebody for not doing what somebody shoulda woulda done but nobody did. Salop government
GREED GREED GREED. Premote the high end hotels and forget about the rest, access ability dwindles and there you have it monopoly.
They can then charge what they like….
It’s a cartel.
The government should be looking at some of the other airlines in Europe and inviting them to fly to St Lucia.
Don’t sit on your hands and pretend everything is in the garden is rosey
Proactive not reactive