 Thank you Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker first let me add my voice to those of my colleagues to wish Dr. Poyota speedy recovery and I look forward to seeing her taking the place back in this August chamber Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker I rise in support of the tourism development bill now on the floor of this August body. Mr. Speaker I will speak a bit as parliamentary rep for Souffre as the residents of Souffre the heartbeat of tourism and the industry and I will say just a little as the Minister for Commerce because it's also part of the business community. Mr. Speaker as a resident for Souffre I've seen tremendous progress in the industry but before I go into details I want today to add my voice to that of the Honorable Prime Minister to commend the Minister for tourism for the significant work that he has done in the industry. I also want to commend the staff of the Ministry of Tourism in particular the permanent secretary Ms. Duité someone who has a foundation in the right place in the Souffre community look at the smile. I my interaction with the peers goes a long way when she was a product development officer at the Ministry. I also want to recognize Dipter for the face that you see when you look for quality the person who goes around giving advice to the players and I also notice here Mr. Thaddeus Atouan who chairs one of the allied agencies from that industry. Notif first today as well as Lorraine, St. Jean, St. Jules, and the other staff of the Ministry for the tremendous work that they've done Mr. Speaker. As we rightly said as policy makers we sit and we carve the policies but it is the civil servants and board members who actually do the day-to-day lifting so my gratitude. Mr. Speaker the tourism development bill you've heard is modern it's progressive it's bar-riching and it's transformational it's transformative and you know when I started winning it it reminded me of the NIC tagline for the benefit of us all the tagline that remains relevant up to today. Mr. Speaker when I sort of reflect on the industry when you think of the 60s the 70s the 80s what has happened at one point the industry was populated and controlled by large hotels and all of them were for it own. Then progressively we saw a handful of locals moving in the industry and as I sat there try to bring my memory back we had the Villa Hotel by the Ghitaris, Blue Water Beach Hotel by the St. Helens, we have Malaba by the Bernard's and afterwards we have Bay Gardens by the Destinx and we start thinking of persons that have actually shaped the industry and we think of persons like Bufiapal. In Souffre I think of the Unchasne Hotel and the gentleman of the creative mind Nick Trubiscoff now Nick Trubiscoff. I think of Stonefield with an Easter and Wayne Brown and I think of the Dashin which is now the Ladera and when you think of each of these hotels and the Dashin was owned by a gentleman by the name of John DePaul that's the history that I know and I could remember those persons who went around the rocks of Souffre and picked up the perfect view and used the right architecture. That's what makes it as unique as it is now. When we think of the restaurant we thought of again the Dashin Mr. DePaul had this restaurant in the center of town the DePaulese had the steel restaurants and then we think of the morning for our green parrots by the unforgettable multi-talented international chef Harry again from Foshe-Jacques Souffre. That's where he's from that is just telling you that to produce the hot bit of the industry. Mr. Speaker in nineteen when I think of the what shaped it and the Ministry gave a date around 1999 we had the heritage tourism product and I think of our brother Felix Finister who did tremendous work in bringing heritage tourism to us and I remember I was part of the delegation with Agnes Agnes? What's his name? Francis. And we went to Jamaica and they also went to Costa Rica again at that time looking at community tourism and I believe we developed a handbook for heritage tourism that was adopted in Barbados before it was adopted here and I'm saying all of that to give us an idea of where we are and how the industry has moved in 2007 on the cricket World Cup this SLB administration added came in for incentives under the three three room three rooms to incentive at that time under the tourism industry under the cricket World Cup program. Now Mr. Speaker it is again a central Labour Party government that is presenting transformative legislation in the industry. An industry that is impacting approximately 40% of our GDP. Now when I say tourism is the live blood of Souffre I think of the yachting sector and I know we've had significant conversation with tourism personnel for work to strengthen and regulate that sector in Souffre. It is critical for us. It impacts my entire community at Barron Strive. It impacts my boat boys that are very dear to me and I think only Monday we had them under some conversation and discussion to see how best we can put order in the disorder that is happening down there. So I want to recognize the work that is being done by the Souffre Marine Management Authority with persons like the chairperson Mr. Harold Alson. We have as well when I think of Souffre on the sites and tours we have our Gropiton and our self-espring both managed by the Souffre Regional Development Foundation an institution that is critical to the progress of St. Louis and the people of Souffre in particular. But we've in Gropiton we have the Piton Management Area Authority and that is headed by Mrs. John Heapolite. All of that is important for us because the product that we have that bill that we have is relevant if all these other things are taken care of because over 80% of the visitors that appear on this sentution will come to visit Souffre. So I'm saying all of that to say that we have the assets. I am grateful for the work that is happening. We've been the ministry to protect the industry and I welcome I welcome I welcome this particular bill before us. Over the years we've seen the increase in visitor numbers as well over the years we've seen the increase of local involvement in the industry. In Souffre for example we've seen a significant increase in our Airbnb and I believe that when we looked at some of the data in library we see the growth and we see the growth and we see how it impacts the lives of the people immediately. We've seen as well the growth in packaged doors, our people being involved in it, our people involving transportation, our people being involved in new restaurants, in boating, in for example in transportation in Souffre you have the Michael Gustave, you have Ben Saltibus, in bars and restaurants, so Baron's Rave we have Aquinas, you have Alvin Boyo in Lennizille, in new development where I live every other room is an Airbnb. When I think of Pontchangiat, I see Mr. Philippi with his new restaurant in Belvedere. I look at the farm to table experience by the galaxies way up in the wash. I see what is happening at biggest place. I see what Orlando is doing way down to present a unique product on cemetery road, high-end restaurant. Mr. Speaker as the pilot for Souffre I am happy. I am pleased in terms of what I'm seeing. In Pontchangiat for example we have the Forchangiat agro tourism park and there we are getting assistance from Jeff as well as the Taiwanese of CDF and only last week we officially open the Interpretation Center at Forchangiat. The first step for the Forchangiat agro tourism park. So Mr. Speaker, who are some of the other persons who are going to benefit from this? In Souffre we put together the vendors association about 150 members and again 150 members we brought them together and what it has caused us to do and I want to take this moment again to thank the Ministry of Tourism because there the ministry has come together and has at least provided training on two occasions for our vendors and again I want to thank Sugar Beach for facilitating those training sessions. So Mr. Speaker as the Minister for Commerce and within my ministry we have the MSME program and a lot of the persons who have applied for Grand Sunderdart program are persons involved in the industry. So I am also I also welcome what the Honorable Prime Minister has done by putting the youth economy together. There's a lot of the young men especially the bold boys have applied for grants under the youth economy. So now that we have put we have the youth economy the Ministry of Tourism as a community development authority we have the small business development unit working with them all of that is a government putting all the pieces together and various ministries but all of it is for the ordinary man and woman the ordinary youth to benefit and to play a critical role in the economy of St. Lucia so that tomorrow they can see their owners their drivers of their own destiny and it is this St. Lucia Labour Party government that is causing our people to be the future millionaires of tomorrow. That's right. Mr. Speaker I am pleased that this legislation places emphasis on green energy and conservation, water recycling, the protection of our ocean, the protection of our coral reef, the issue of food security. All of these issues are critical to us as a people and consequently it is good that within this piece of legislation you have provided incentives to players in the industry so that they can recognize that so that they can the practices can fall within the SDGs so that while they earn an income they protect our environment and ensure that we have sustainability. That is very good Mr. Speaker. I am also pleased that provision is made in the legislation to meet the cost of certification for the first few years because Mr. Speaker and again that is where we speak about quality ensuring that we work with all the players in the industry to improve the quality of service but we also recognize that as small players they would not have the resources to meet that certification so there again you have a government ensuring that we have right quality but also providing the support that is required by meeting the fees for the next two years while our businesses progress. So Mr. Speaker today I am extremely pleased to support this legislation and I want to commend both Prime Minister and Minister of Finance and our Minister for tourism and his staff for a very good piece of legislation. Thank you.