Roberts asserts that the Caribbean has tremendous potential for regional travel and youth are at the centre.

At a regional tourism conference in Saint Lucia, Roberts urged Caribbean leaders to rethink the future of regional tourism. She highlighted the pivotal role of engaging more youth in regional exchange programmes to drive this transformation.

“It's good to have the couples and the families and the friends, but when you travel as groups for sports. If you're travelling for cricket or you're coming for rugby or you're coming to a swimming event, we want to encourage the travel advisors to reach out to school groups, principals and church groups,” she noted.

Regional travel has been on the agenda of both governments and the private sector since the COVID-19 pandemic halted movement.

Saint Lucia, now benefiting from Sunrise Airways, now has almost daily flights to islands of the OECS, particularly Saint Kitts. While the country remains in great demand for international travel, regional travel is still lacking.

One possible solution forwarded by the Grenada tourism official is cultural exchange programmes among youth of the region, heightening regional cooperation and lowering airfares.

“You travel, you meet families, you engage around a sporting activity or a cultural activity and that engagement ensures that you become long-lasting friends. We want to be able to strengthen that relationship that exists between Saint Lucia and Grenada when people travel for recreation and for trade.”

Roberts affirmed Grenada’s commitment to collaborating on regional travel initiatives with Saint Lucia, Trinidad, and Barbados.