 Spareheaded by Tourism Minister Honourable Dr. Ernest Hiller, the peer administration in March 2022 tabled the Community Tourism Development Act in Parliament with the specific goal of giving more ordinary Saint Lucian's greater access to the resources and facilities needed to reap the benefits of the island's mainstay revenue earner, Tourism. The Community Tourism Development Act gave rise to the establishment of the Saint Lucia Community Tourism Agency, CTA, who officially launched its transformative Community Tourism Program in the Anselare Village on November 3. Community Tourism Program is designed to encourage entrepreneurs and property owners in each community to upgrade their facilities and product offerings. As business owners will be guided by a standard for operation, including licensing and will undergo training and certification in general business and hospitality skills development to ensure that the accommodations and services are inviting and world class. At the CTA, we are focused on development of small micro enterprises involved or interested in the tourism business within accommodations up to 10 rooms, restaurants, bars and recreational facilities. Prime Minister Honourable Philip J. Pierre himself, a former Minister of Tourism, has given the CTA his stamp of approval as the Community Tourism Program advances his administration's mandate of putting people first by providing Saint Lucia's aspiring entrepreneurs and established business leaders and the MSME sector in particular, previously unattainable opportunities for wealth creation, income generation and sustainable employment. When they work in the goodness in London and say to him, look at what we have to compete with as far as tourism is concerned, I don't know whether you remember that. There was some work and the tourism, it was a place where there were many cafes and people outside selling. I said to him, look at what we have to compete with as far as tourism is concerned and I sought to myself that we have to find a way to make the people benefit from the tourism industry and I'm very happy and pleased that I'm back in the government that understands that, that understands that people must benefit from anything that a government does, people must benefit and we make no apologies for that. The Community Tourism Agency offers local operators in the hospitality sector a range of concessions including access to grant funding, unsecured loans up to $100,000, lending packages of up to $300,000 and duty-free concessions and tax breaks. The Ministry of Tourism in Jamaica recently on a panel with me made the point that in Jamaica of every dollar that comes into Jamaica from the tourism industry between 10 to 15 cents stays in the country, a $5 billion industry in Jamaica, Saint Lucia is about a $1.4 billion industry from what we told. Think of how much on every dollar stays in Saint Lucia. This program is designed to make sure that more of that tourism dollar remains in Saint Lucia. Now we're not approaching it with a zero sum game. We don't believe that if more stays in the community it means others get less. We believe it's a positive sum game. Let us make the pie bigger. So those who used to get a slice will get a bigger slice and those who never got a slice before can start getting slices too. In addition to funding and financial services, the CTA also provides local operators, training, business and operational support and marketing services. From the office of the Prime Minister, Rihanna Ezudo.