 Thank you very much Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, thank you for granting me leave to make a minor intervention on this very important motion. And so I commend Mr. Speaker by indicating very clearly that I stand in support of the resolution proposed by the Minister for Finance to establish the Tourism Development Fund in accordance with Section 22.1 of the Public Finance Management Act Cap 1501. Section 22.2 of the Affirmation Act also states that a resolution on the Section 22.1 must state, one, the purpose of the fund, be the money to be paid into the special fund, see the means of collecting money to be paid into the special fund. Mr. Speaker, the resolution states that the purpose of the fund is to facilitate the operations tourism development and tourism marketing of the Department of Tourism. Mr. Speaker, this is broadly consistent with the provisions of Section 137 of the Tourism Development Act which was passed by this Honourable House at its last sitting. Section 137 states the following. The purpose of the fund is to facilitate the operations of the Department of Tourism Development and Tourism Marketing. The resolution states that the money to be paid in the tourism development are from the following sources. A, the sums allocated by Parliament. B, penalties on interest on the Section 117 of the Tourism Development Act. Number one of 2024. C, the surplus tourism revenue on the Section 119 of the Tourism Development Act. Number one of 2024. D, any grants received by the Department of Tourism in relation to tourism development. E, any fees charged under the Tourism Development Act. Number one of 2024. And F, all other sums that may be comparable to or vested in the Department of Tourism in respect of matters incidental to its functions and powers. The resolution further states that Section 231 of the Public Finance Management Act Cap 1501 relates to payment and accounting procedures and it further stated that the accounting officer which in this case would be the permanent secretary of the Department of Tourism will be responsible for administering the fund and it sets out the procedure that the accounting officer would need to comply with in relation to submitting to the accountant general statements showing the financial position of the fund at the end of the financial year. Mr. Speaker, the resolution contains all the information that is legally required for the establishment of a special fund under the Public Finance Management Act. The tourism development will therefore be properly constituted once this resolution is passed. This side of the honorable house will not do like the previous administration, Mr. Speaker, whose leader at the time stated that the increase of $1.50 in the excise tax season fuel which took effect on June 1, 2017 was to go towards maintaining and upgrading the road network and associated infrastructure such as bridges. This was stated by the former prime minister of finance in his budget address for the fiscal year 2017-2018. Mr. Speaker, there was no clear transparent way in which this system operated because it lacked legislative authority. And as the current minister for finance has stated on numerous occasions, he has not found a fund into which the $1.50 from excise taxes on fuel is placed. I suspect, Mr. Speaker, that the fund to which the former minister of finance referred to is a black hole where funds mysteriously disappear. Mr. Speaker, we are all aware that the tourism sector is the largest economic sector in terms of value added employment and foreign exchange earnings in St. Lucia. It is the primary sector driving economic growth and development in our country. Mr. Speaker, it is to be noted that while tourism is not measured as a sector in gross domestic product, the food and accommodation sector is used as a proxy, but still significantly underestimates the tourism sector's contribution to GDP. A review of the GDP at constant prices series over the period 2006 to 2022 shows the growing importance of tourism as measured by the food and accommodation sector, which I have previously stated grossly underestimates tourism's contribution to GDP. On average, the food and accommodation sectors share of GDP range from a low of 17.2 percent in 2008 to a peak of 20.9 percent in 2019. I have deliberately excluded 2020 because of the impact of COVID. In that year, the food and accommodation sector accounted for a mere 9.2 percent of GDP. We saw the massive impact that the sector had on GDP growth in 2020, resulting in a contraction in GDP of 25.4 percent. In the same year, Mr. Speaker, the food and accommodation sector contracted by a whooping 67 percent. Mr. Speaker, I am aware of the extensive academic debates on the pros and cons of establishing such dedicated funds. I am, however, Mr. Speaker, persuaded by the arguments that setting up such a fund will provide an incentive for the organizations responsible for tourism marketing and development to increase the performance of the tourism sector as the surplus on the tourism levy is to be remitted into the tourism development fund. It is to be noted further, Mr. Speaker, that the surplus tourism levy is defined as, and I quote, the total amount of money collected through the tourism levy minus the sums allocated by parliament for a financial year to the St. Lucia Tourism Authority on the section 29 of the St. Lucia Tourism Authority Act, cap 15.32. This effectively means that the tourism agencies of government benefit directly from any amounts that they collect from the tourism levy that is in excess of the amount allocated by parliament to the St. Lucia Tourism Authority. There is also a greater incentive for the authority to approach the matter on collecting revenue in a more determined way as there will be beneficiaries of the increase in revenue. The linking of higher performance with increased revenue, Mr. Speaker, to the agency will provide a positive incentive to the agencies of tourism to embark on more effective and efficient tourism development and marketing strategies. Tourism is our major sector, Mr. Speaker, and it is clear that there is significant potential for further expansion of the sector. We therefore need to establish a mechanism which allows us to incentivize the sector to generate more resources for its continued development. It is my view, Mr. Speaker, that the establishment of the Tourism Development Fund provides the necessary incentives to improve the performance of the sector and to generate additional resources that can be invested in the sector for its continued growth and development. At this juncture, Mr. Speaker, I want to take my journey through the corridors of time and revisit the last sitting of parliament where we passed the Tourism Development Bill and the leader of the opposition in his brief intervention on this particular motion alluded to resilience and, of course, the government of the St. Lucia Labour Party led by the Honourable Philip J. Pierre. Actually, in that particular bill made provisions to build resilience. Mr. Speaker, we are aware that the tourism sector is highly vulnerable to shocks and global pandemics. And as a result, given the size and importance of the tourism sector, the entire economy becomes vulnerable to these shocks, as we saw during COVID-19. An important innovation in this Tourism Development Bill, Mr. Speaker, is that it seeks to strengthen the resilience of the tourism sector and thereby strengthening resilience of the overall economy. Mr. Speaker, close 80 of the set bill provides for an application for incentives for resilience. This is indeed a novel feature, Mr. Speaker. And while we cannot minimize the impact of external shocks on the tourism sector, we can put in place incentives to ensure a speedy recovery from such shocks. We also recognize, Mr. Speaker, that there is need to diversify the economy to reduce its strong dependence on the tourism sector. Incentives for resilience are provided for in Part D of that Schedule II of the bill, Mr. Speaker, that we just passed so things are not happening by accident. And so, Mr. Speaker, I wish to close by lending my full support to the resolution to establish the Tourism Development Fund. I thank you, Mr. Speaker.