The Government of Saint Lucia officially opened a new public beach park in Gros Islet on Aug. 15, that will provide entertainment spaces and commercial opportunities for the general public.

The Gros Islet Recreational Beach Park consists of a public restroom block, an ice cream shoppe, concessionaire spaces, a playground, and a children's entertainment area.

Hon. Kenson Casimir, Parliamentary Representative for Gros-Islet thanked community members for their assistance in the establishment of the beach park.

“I want to say a special thank you to Simon Philip aka Simple because it really was Simple who, in his unique way, started establishing an area for kids of Gros Islet to enjoy themselves, and so we say a special thank you for what he originally did. I also want to thank the people of Gros Islet for their patience with this project, and the contractors of this project, who also are from the constituency of Gros Islet.”

Minister Casimir announced plans to host small scale cultural events at the park.

“We are expecting to have jazz events at this facility, carnival events, Gros Islet day activities, Creole Day activities right here so people can enjoy themselves.”

Tourism Minister Hon. Dr. Ernest Hilaire explained the importance of the project.

"A place like this and a project like this is important because it will create opportunities especially within the hospitality sector for the average Saint Lucian to be able to benefit from the tourism industry. Traditionally we have always seen the tourism industry as something that is dominated by large properties but over the last few years we have tried under successive governments to allow Saint Lucians to be able to benefit. Since 2021, we’ve announced and we’ve made it deliberate that we will intensify efforts to make sure that we will bring the benefits of tourism to as many Saint Lucians as possible. We want to make it very clear that we want Saint Lucians to start owning more of the tourism industry and not just to participate in the industry by being workers and providing services, and that is a fundamental difference as well.”

Minister Hilaire also spoke on plans to erect public restrooms and vending facilities at additional beach locations, and indicated plans to install 30 additional moorings to accommodate the docking of marine vessels in order to boost revenue collection for the benefit of the country.