by Eulana Weekes
St. Kitts and Nevis (WINN): The island of Nevis has attracted a significant number of tourists from the United Kingdom over recent months, explained St. Kitts – Nevis Tourism Minister Hon. Marsha Henderson, during the Prime Minister’s Press Conference on Thursday, May 18.
“Apparently, the numbers in Nevis [shows that] the UK visitors have a bigger interest in Nevis as a destination. Looking at the demographics, it’s a much older set up [people]… middle-aged, who come from the U.K and show an interest for Nevis and so, we’re working on a strategy to stimulate demand for the U.K visitors including, of course, airlift.”
Minister Henderson recalled the local Tourism Authority’s road trip to the United Kingdom in November 2022, where officials met with stakeholders there to market the sister Isles.
“We’ve embarked on a number of initiatives starting last November where we did a road trip into London and the surrounding areas, meeting with travel agents and different persons to stimulate the demand for the destination there in that part of the U.K; and we’re hoping that would translate into stayover visitors. So, we’ve had influencers from there who’ve been working with us in Tourism to sell the destination.”
“What we started last year was an initiative where we’re trying to promote both destinations, that’s St. Kitts and Nevis within the U.K (United Kingdom) and doing an overall study to see what the visitors there are actually looking for, as their demands are sometimes different from those who [come] from the U.S (United States).”
Meanwhile, the Federal Tourism Minister said there had been great success in attracting U.K visitors to St. Kitts and Nevis. As such, the Tourism body is seeking to encourage more attention from the United Kingdom, with assistance from the team of influencers there.
“When we met with British Airways [BA], they informed us that there was an arrangement- because there was a double hop from Antigua and then into St. Kitts. Previously, most of the passengers on BA were going to Antigua, but what they reported to us is that a number of the seats, if not three-quarters of the seats, were being taken up by visitors coming to St. Kitts. So it’s showing that the work that we are putting in there, we’re getting some success there as well.”
According to Henderson, the plan is to have another road trip to the United Kingdom market later in 2023 to influence more people and increase the airlift from the United Kingdom to St. Kitts and Nevis.
