 Cruise tourism has been officially reintroduced to St. Lucia with a cruise call by Celebrity Millennium. The return of cruise tourism to the island is indicative of the reinstatement of revenue for cruise-dependent income earners. Government officials and stakeholders will hand out podcast trees to welcome passengers with grand fanfare and treats. How many Mark has details on this momentous occasion? The Castries spot lit up with fanfare as St. Lucia on Tuesday welcomed Celebrity Millennium to podcast trees. The first cruise vessel to the island since the halt in 2020 due to the COVID-19 pandemic. The arrival of the cruise ship signals the reintroduction of cruise tourism to the island and more importantly, the reinstatement of revenue for well over 1,000 cruise-dependent income earners. Celebrity Millennium called into port around 7.30 a.m. with an estimated 400 passenger capacity and the government officials and other stakeholders were on hand to welcome them. Prime Minister of St. Lucia Hon. Alan Chastney explained the significance of the reintroduction of cruise tourism. We have been working with the cruise industry since March of 2020 and very actively to try to get their return which was originally scheduled for October-November of 2020. So to say that a lot of work has gone into this is an understatement. I want to thank the Ministry of Health, the Ministry of Tourism and all of the stakeholders for their consistency, perseverance in sticking through this. So today is the culmination of a lot of work and effort to see Solidarity Millennium coming back into our shores and this again head of schedule. So this is a meaningful thing because of the persons that are impacted by the return of the ship. The street vendors, the taxi drivers, the tour operators, all who have depended almost exclusively on this sector have been impacted for the last 16 months. And while we have done some things to try to comfort them, it's certainly nothing can ever replace the income that they were generating from this industry. So this is a wonderful sight for them and we are excited to say the least. Continuous efforts were channelled into the safe return of the cruise tourism to Saint Lucia with regular meetings with the cruise lines, handling agencies and the locally established cruise committee. High-level meetings were also held with officials of the Florida Caribbean Cruise Association, FCCA and a focus on safe resumption of cruise calls to Saint Lucia. Meetings were also held with several cruise lines to finalize protocols that would guide the sector's operations while on island. The Prime Minister expressing gratitude to all stakeholders for their contributions highlighted the importance of the return, as many individuals depend on the cruise industry for their income. We've understood from early how the ship's not coming in with impact, but a lot of people in Saint Lucia. So that sense of urgency now is represented today and we're just very excited that one of the first destinations to recommend services is the end of the two and we'll look forward, hopefully, to convince the cruise industry to continue to come into our ports even in the next summer. So as you know, we're pretty much only getting winter tours so we've tried to take advantage of the prices and show that the Eastern Caribbean is a world class destination on a European basis. But again, today's ship coming back means so much more. It represents the hard work of the team. It's a mission of the Minister of the Ministry of Tourism and Authority, the Ministry of Health and all of the members of the United States of America who come to be here today and many of the other tours and fosterings. All of them would have put this effort in to make this thing happen today. Again, I want to thank the executives from Michael Bailey. I'm all down to the rest of his team for believing in St. Lucia and making this happen today. To mark the momentous occasion, a plaque was presented to the captain of Celebrity Millennium, affectionately known as Captain Fio. Captain Fio also presented a plaque to the government of St. Lucia, commemorating the inaugural Caribbean comeback call. Adding to the fanfare, there were also prizes to be won. The first prize went to a cruise passenger visiting St. Lucia for the first time. Minister for Tourism, Information and Broadcasting, Culture and Creative Industries, Hon. Dominic Vede expressed elation through the return of cruise tourism to St. Lucia. Oh, what a tremendous day for St. Lucia. All the workers that have been out of work since the pandemic began. This really is an absolutely fantastic day for them. The vendors of the arcade, the vendors at the craft market as well. I really want to thank the permanent secretary and Beverly, the CEO of the Tourism Authority for the work that they have put in. I want to personally thank the prime minister who really has been leading this from the front on the FCCA task force with the rest of the Caribbean. It's an absolutely amazing day for all of us. Activity manager Al is a born St. Lucia and has been working in the cruise industry for over a decade. He indicated that he is ecstatic that cruise tourism is making a comeback, having been out of work for some 15 months. Al said that his job is very rewarding and encourages young people to take advantage of the cruise industry. I can't complain. Troubling the world. The salary is always something to talk about. I'll not ignore that the salary is really good. I'm meeting amazing people, networking as an entertainer. I've networked with so many people to get opportunities to perform in Los Angeles and Georgia, in Miami, in Europe. So it's just a blessing working on cruise ships. Especially young people, if you're not sure what you want to do, even if it's not a career you want to take up, I would employ any young person to just go to MAM, but there's agencies down here that get you booked to go on cruise ships. Do it. It's a good way to make money if you want to go back to school. The money you make there you can afford to go back to school. So any young person I would tell them to go into it. However, if you also into hospitality, it's definitely a place where you can be an ambassador for Saint Lucia, because that's what I'm doing right now. I've encouraged a lot of the guests to actually go on tours and I always say Saint Lucia after the entire Caribbean and Saint Lucia stands out. Honestly, Saint Lucia stands out as one of the best. Cox and Company Limited's Chief Operations Officer, Catherine Cooper, expressed gratitude to all who contributed to the return of cruise tourism to Saint Lucia. Cooper indicated that although the road has been challenging, Cox and Company Limited has been persevering and is glad for the return. Our company, our staff, our tour guides, our drivers of the buses, we have not had any work since the middle of March of 2020, 2020. So today is an unprecedented day. I have been working in the cruise industry from 1984 and we have never, never gone through this sort of interruption in our business. However, Cox and Company was started in 1926 by my grandparents and we never stopped and we're not going to stop now, we are back. I would definitely like to thank the Ministry of Tourism and all that they did to work with us to bring the ships back to Saint Lucia and to help us to get ready. I would like to thank the Ministry of Health, Customs, Immigration, our tour guides and staff for everything that they did to make sure that today is going to be an excellent day and that Saint Lucia can deliver. The health and safety of Saint Lucia's remain of paramount importance as such safety measures have been put in place at the port. Karen Joseph is the Senior Environmental Health Officer of Port Health. This is our public health facility. This is part of our mandate of health security at our borders and as such our public health facility would screen everyone who's coming in. And of course today we're happy to have our first cruise ship and of course we're actually achieving this mandate of screening everyone as they pass through our facility. Continued calls with Royal Caribbean cruises to podcastries are tentatively scheduled for July 13th and August 10th, 2021 while other cruise lines will confirm their itineraries in the near future. From the Government Information Service, I'm Hermadi Mark reporting.