dawn_angelique_roberts_web.jpgSpecial to South Florida Times

SOUFRIERE, St. Lucia — One of the island’s popular and classy plantation resorts is putting its efforts into attracting the burgeoning African-American travel market.

Eroline Lamontagne, managing director of Soufriere's Fond Doux Holiday Plantation, said St. Lucia must continue to diversify and tailor its marketing efforts by targeting communities of color, especially those who have a voracious appetite for “all things Caribbean.”

“We are serious about this and would like to see our tourism marketers do more to attract black and Caribbean travelers of means to our shores,” Lamontagne said.

Last month, Fond Doux supported the Associate Member Task Force of the National Association of Black Journalists during the organization's 37th annual Convention and Career Fair in New Orleans.

The task force is for freelance and part-time journalists, journalism educators, public relations practitioners and other media-related professionals of NABJ.

As part of Fond Doux's sponsorship in New Orleans, Lizabeth Martin, associate professor of Communications at Palm Beach State College, won a three-night stay for two at the hotel.

“Fond Doux Holiday Plantation's partnership with NABJ's Associate Member Task Force is important to us and we are truly inspired by Lamontagne's confidence in the African-American market,” said Dawn Angelique Roberts, task force representative.

Earlier this year, Fond Doux sponsored St. Lucia's 33rd anniversary of Independence Gala in Brooklyn, joining the Saint Lucia Foundation, St. Lucians in New York, the government and the private sector to celebrate the milestone.

Photo: Dawn Angelique Roberts