KINGSTOWN, St. Vincent-The St. Vincent and the Grenadines Parliament has given the green light to amend the country’s marriage act as the government moves to take advantage of a growing market for wedding destinations
Prime Minister Dr. Ralph Gonsalves told legislators that his administration had moved to amend the Marriage Act to facilitate the process of people getting married in a day,
St. Vincent and the Grenadines have amended their marriage regulations to make it possible for people to tie the knot after being in the destination for just one day, joining Caribbean destinations like St. Lucia, Antigua, or Grenada.
“Compared to several other countries, we make this matter far too difficult,” Gonsalves said, noting that as St Vincent and the Grenadines is a multi-island state, “there is too much centralization in the city of Kingstown and with the Registrar General and the number of days required is just too many for many persons before entering into marriage.”
Gonsalves said that if the island takes advantage of a growing market for wedding destinations, it is essential that the government puts the institutional arrangements in place.
“The hoteliers, the Ministry of Tourism, the Tourism Authority have been calling for some changes, and we have made some, and the small ones, on the face of it which we are doing today to the regulations, are important, and they may well be others,” Gonsalves said, adding that by and large, the amendment would not impact “on Vincentians, generally speaking, who want to get married.
“Because people who want to get married here will tend to plan their business. So these changes rarely facilitate those who would wish to come to the destination to get married and move on, as happens in many countries in the Caribbean and the world.”
Prime Minister Gonsalves said before the amendment; the law required a declaration by the applicants that they had been resident here for at least three days before the date of the application for the marriage license.
“I don’t think that this should be particularly controversial and wherever we have to make any further amendments to facilitate this particular process to get … an increased part of the business, in our beautiful islands,” Prime Minister Gonsalves said.
Tourism Minister Carlos James supported the amendment, telling legislators that the Attorney General Chambers would bring supporting marriage delegation of powers notice.
This will allow the governor-general, which grants marriage licenses under Section 23 of the Marriage Act, to delegate this particular power to district officers and revenue officers in the Grenadines.
“It has proven to be a bit inconvenient to those coming to our destination and who may have a preference for the Grenadines as a particular choice for their destination weddings,” James said, adding that the island had been a leading wedding destination.
“We have fallen off for several years primarily because of these challenges that persons would incur when they come to St. Vincent and the Grenadines,” he said, noting that globally, destination weddings are a US$16 billion sector.
“It’s a huge, huge market. And we’re talking over 25 percent of Americans travel for destination weddings, and 2.4 million weddings are performed,” James said.
In supporting the amendment, Opposition Leader Dr. Godwin Friday said, “ I have listened to the description and the promises that this seemingly tiny amendment may have for the tourism sector, that is, the specific niche market of wedding destinations tourism.”
He said he remains supportive of the initiative that could lead to more visitors coming here.
“It’s not a foregone conclusion, necessarily, that the amendment would bring more people here because everybody else is upping their game and trying to provide more services and make things more user friendly and easier to access.”
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