Home Click here to download the Media Kit
Reference: Français Español Deutsch    Online: عربي English
Country Profiles:
Afghanistan
Albania
Algeria
Azerbaijan
Bahrain
Bangladesh
Benin
Brunei
Burkina
Cameroon
Chad
Comoros
Cote d’Ivoire
Djibouti
Egypt
Emirates
Gabon
Gambia
Guinea
Guinea Bissau
Guyana
Indonesia
Iran
Iraq
Jordan
Kazakhstan
Kuwait
Kyrgyzstan
Lebanon
Libya
Malaysia
Maldives
Mali
Mauritania
Morocco
Mozambique
Niger
Nigeria
Oman
Pakistan
Palestine
Qatar
Saudi Arabia
Senegal
Sierra Leone
Somalia
Sudan
Suriname
Syria
Tajikistan
Togo
Tunisia
Turkey
Turkmenistan
Uganda
Uzbekistan
Yemen
Andorra
Angola
Antigua
Argentina
Armenia
Australia
Austria
Bahamas
Barbados
Belarus
Belgium
Belize
Bhutan
Bolivia
Bosnia
Botswana
Brazil
Bulgaria
Burundi
Cambodia
Canada
Cape Verde
Central Africa
Chile
China
Colombia
Congo
Congo Democ.
Costa Rica
Croatia
Cuba
Cyprus
Czech
Denmark
Dominica
Dominican Rep.
Ecuador
El Salvador
Eq. Guinea
Eritrea
Estonia
Ethiopia
Fiji
Finland
France
Georgia
Germany
Greece
Grenada
Guatemala
Haiti
Honduras
Hungary
Iceland
India
Ireland
Italy
Jamaica
Japan
Kenya
Kiribati
Laos
Latvia
Lesotho
Liberia
Liechtenstein
Lithuania
Luxembourg
Macedonia
Madagascar
Malawi
Malta
Marshall
Mauritius
Mexico
Micronesia
Moldova
Monaco
Mongolia
Myanmar
Namibia
Nauru
Nepal
Netherlands
New Guinea
New Zealand
Nicaragua
North Korea
Norway
Palau
Panama
Paraguay
Peru
Philippines
Poland
Portugal
Romania
Russia
Rwanda
Saint Kitts
Saint Lucia
Saint Vincent
Samoa
San Marino
Sao Tome
Serbia & Mon.
Seychelles
Singapore
Slovakia
Slovenia
Solomon
South Africa
South Korea
Spain
Sri Lanka
Swaziland
Sweden
Switzerland
Tanzania
Thailand
Timor-Leste
Tonga
Trinidad
Tuvalu
Taiwan
Ukraine
UK
Uruguay
USA
Vanuatu
Vatican
Venezuela
Viet Nam
Zambia
Zimbabwe
Ghana

St Lucia: waiting to welcome Middle Easterners and Muslims


 

By Karen Dabrowska

“I haven’t ever had a guest from the Middle Eastâ€Â, says Andrea Abraham  who runs a modest guest house, Talk to Me Cool, on the tiny Caribbean of St Lucia.

 

Her guest house, like many tourist resorts in the Caribbean is a victim of September 11th. Bookings and tourist numbers dropped sharply and many small hotels closed after the atrocity.

 

The Caribbean has never been popular with Muslim tourists but Andrea assures them of a warm welcome. She is wary of  anyone with links to Al Qaeda. “But there are good and bad people in every society†and Andrea is convinced there is little chance she will meet “the bad onesâ€Â.

 

Tourism in the Caribbean takes two forms: the sun and fun variety popular with some Westerners who frequent the bars and enjoy the night life and the Caribbean which Muslims would be comfortable exploring: family guest houses, nature walks, tours of historical sites and plantations and dinners in the beach front restaurants looking over a calm ocean and magical sunset.

 

The Caribbean was once the playground of the rich out of the reach of the average tourist. But Virgin Atlantic’s flights – some £450 return, others only £199 – and a mushrooming of guest houses run by the locals for around $35.00 a night has turned it into a popular holiday destination.

 

The slogan adopted by the St Lucian Tourist Board: Simply beautiful sums up the island’s character. There are mountains, the most famous being the Pitons, unspoilt beaches, banana plantations, rainforests with exotic flowers, immaculately kept gardens, a drive-in volcano and friendly people whose welcome is from the heart.

 

Soufriere, the island’s first capital, is a town of contrasts with something different around every corner. Along the waterfront the tragic effects of a hurricane which devastated the island in 1999 are evident from the shanty town with its wooden huts and corrugated iron structures. Tragically the town has suffered from many bad weather days and natural disasters: it was pummelled by hurricanes in 1817, 1898 and 1980. An earthquake struck in 1839 and in 1955 half of Soufriere was burned down.

 

Many of the towns inhabitants are poor but rich in spirit, treasuring whatever each day brings. The Old Courthouse Restaurant dates back to 1898 – its bathrooms were once the courthouse cells. Like most restaurants it serves a variety of Caribbean dishes heavily reliant on fresh seafood, fruits and exotic vegetables.

 

On Fridays the waterfront becomes the local market: fish, vegetables and fruit are the most popular items on sale.

 

The French influence from colonial days is evident from the buildings in the main street and around the town square with second floor balconies and intricate decorative woodwork. The French are also largely responsible for the magnificent botanical gardens in the Soufriere Estate which started life as an 18th century sugar plantation on a 2000-acre land grant bestowed by Louis XIV to the Devaux family in 1713. The mineral baths are built on the site of the first baths commissioned by the king when he realised that the estate’s hot springs had the same curative minerals as those of French and German spas.

 

In the town square, from which buses (in the form of mini vans) leave for the capital Castries and other towns, the Lady of the Assumption Church, built in 1953, is worth a visit. The streets surrounding the square have an internet café with soft music and local songs with a religious flavour, supermarkets where anything imported is very expensive and Camilla’s Restaurant with a charming second-floor veranda overlooking the street.

 

Other scenic attractions include the drive-in volcano which erupted around 40,000 years ago. The area is shrouded in legends claiming that the Arawak Indians used the site for human sacrifice. The caribs called it Qualibou – the place of death.

 

Guest houses like Talk to Me Cool are family affairs where visitors quickly become one of the family. Michael Abraham and his wife Andrea are probably the towns’s best tourist guides. Over breakfast they provide an insight into life in Soufriere and St Lucia. Guests are collected from the airport: sightseeing starts with the drive to Soufriere through small fishing villages and towns.

 

Simple is the key word on St Lucia: there is beauty in the simplicity of a walk along the beach, a quiet dinner in a local restaurant, a quiet talk who people have forgotten about yesterday and have no worries about tomorrow.

Back to main page
St Lucia: waiting to welcome Middle Easterners and Muslims
St Lucia: waiting to welcome Middle Easterners and Muslims

“I haven’t ever had a guest from the Middle Eastâ€Â, says Andrea Abraham who runs a modest guest house, Talk to Me Cool, on the tiny Caribbean of St Lucia. (08/07/2004)

Showing 1 news articles
Back To Top

Trinidad

The news that published in Islamic Tourism Trade Media

    Show year 2004 (1)
    Show all (1)

The articles which appeared in Islamic Tourism magazine




Select Country News
Country:

Founded by Mr. A.S.Shakiry on 2011     -     Published by TCPH, London - U.K
TCPH Ltd
Islamic Tourism
Unit 2B, 2nd Floor
289 Cricklewood Broadway
London NW2 6NX, UK
ÇáÚæÏÉ Åáì ÇáÃÚáì
Copyright © A S Shakiry and TCPH Ltd.
Tel: +44 (0) 20 8452 5244
Fax: +44 (0) 20 8452 5388
post@islamictourism.com