The Leon Hess Comprehensive Secondary School is set to represent St Lucia in the 2023 regional showdown between four other Caribbean teams in the regional finals of the National Tourism Debate competition.

The competition will be held between May 27 and June 8.

At the recently held media launch in St Lucia at the Sandals Grande St Lucian Spa & Beach Resort, representatives from the St Lucia Hotel Association and Invest St Lucia were in attendance to show support for the initiative. The 2023 season will open to include applications from all schools on the island for a national final.

Debating teams from secondary high schools in Jamaica, The Bahamas, Barbados, the Turks & Caicos Islands and now St Lucía have competed over the past year in a series of debates on topics relating to the tourism industry. They will all now compete in a series of knockout debates in the hope of claiming regional supremacy.

“We have been really impressed by the level of debate that has marked the competition so far,” said Michelle Tulloch, chief executive officer of 1LuvTV and producer of the debate competition. “Not only is the tourism industry the region’s foremost economic contributor, it is also the generator of jobs in a variety of areas, one of which the participants in the competition may gravitate to in a few short years.

“The debate competition has served to sharpen their critical insights into the industry and, hopefully, helped them to identify a tourism related career path.”

The competition, which began in Montego Bay 12 years ago has been warmly received by national tourism agencies in regional countries for its ability to focus young people of near school-leaving age on the issues affecting the tourism industry. The young participants have also responded well to the competitive aspect of the programme, heightened now by the chance for regional superiority, status now enjoyed by the team from the Patrick J Bethel High School in The Bahamas.

The debates are conducted on the Zoom platform and carried live online by YouTube. This has maximised audience reach to embrace alumnae, family and friends at home and in the Caribbean diaspora.