by Staff Writer
St Kitts and Nevis (WINN): The Federation has experienced an increase in stay-over arrivals, which is contributing positively to the local economy, confirmed Minister of Tourism, Marsha Henderson. Speaking at a press conference on Thursday morning (October 31), the Minister shared the latest data on tourism arrivals up to the end of September.
“Throughout 2024, we have remained focused on increasing both stayover and cruise arrivals, while ensuring that the visitor spending on island translates to meaningful benefits for our communities. I am pleased to announce that we have welcomed 118,574 visitors as of the end of September. That is at the airport.
This indicates a 21.6% increase in arrivals compared to 97,460 passengers in 2023. As we enter the winter season, we remain optimistic about continued growth and look forward to welcoming even more travellers to our beautiful island in the coming months and of course throughout 2025. Over the past few months, my team and I have been working tirelessly to enhance connectivity to our destination.”
Additionally, Minister Henderson announced a new partnership with Cape Air to establish direct connections between St. Kitts-Nevis, the US Virgin Islands, and Boston. This collaboration aims to enhance the accessibility of the Federation for international travelers and further stimulate economic growth through tourism.
“I am excited to announce that Cape Air will commence service from St. Thomas four times weekly on Monday, Wednesday, Thursday, and Saturday beginning December 7th, 2024. And this is of course in response to all the requests we get from the diaspora and all our visitors to travel who are looking to travel to St. Kitts from the U.S. Virgin Islands.
This new service not only provides options for our diaspora in the United States Virgin Islands, but it also enhances our connectivity to important source markets such as Boston, where we currently have limited service. And that is because Cape Air is co-chairing with JetBlue. And so if you just check online for a flight from Boston to St. Kitts, you should be able to load that directly through our partners at Cape Air.”
Minister Henderson also highlighted several upcoming anniversary celebrations for carriers servicing the Federation, acknowledging their role in supporting the tourism sector and the continued growth in visitor arrivals.
