by Kevon Browne
St. Kitts and Nevis (WINN)—In May 2026, the Premier of Nevis, Hon. Mark Brantley, led an official delegation to Saint Barthélemy (St. Barts) to showcase Nevis as the special guest destination at the “Saveurs Caraïbes 2026” festival.
According to the Premier, the visit also strengthened regional tourism partnerships, improved regional air connectivity, and expanded Nevis’ footprint in the experiential Caribbean tourism market.
Brantley, during his recent ‘On The Mark’ show, shared some details about the delegation he led.
“We took down quite a large contingent. We took chefs, two chefs with us. We took someone from the Ministry of Agriculture, Department of Agriculture, who was the mango person with us. We took, the Odisi Band was with us. We, there were representatives from the Chamber of Commerce in Eva’s chapter. There were several artisans, and, of course, we had representatives from the Nevis Tourism Authority, the CEO, Andia Ravariere, our head of MICE, Shelisia Glasford, and other members of the team. And we’re very, very happy to have the entire team there. And we had, I believe, a wonderful time and a great impact. The chaps from Blue Wave were also there. They had come down because they came down with a considerable load of mangoes and other delicacies. And some people travelled on the Blue Wave to come down. Others flew in.”
Premier Brantley met with top officials, including President of Saint Barth-Tourism Alexandra Questal, to deepen long-term institutional ties and trade cooperation between the neighbouring islands.
“We are now working out how we can do more together. St. Barts, for example, doesn’t have golf. Nevis has golf. St. Barts doesn’t have the same depth of history as Nevis does. St. Barts doesn’t, because of its smaller landmass, doesn’t have the hiking trails and the mountains as Nevis does. And so there’s an opportunity for us to collaborate because Nevis, in turn, doesn’t have the shopping that St. Barts does. It doesn’t have the nightlife that St. Barts does. It doesn’t have the French food that St. Barts does. So there is a synergy that can be developed: each island not competing with the other, but complementing the other. And so we have decided that we want to develop this relationship.”
Premier Brantley thanked the government of St. Barts for their hospitality and for funding the majority of the recent trip.
The trip, according to Brantley, was more than just a cursory visit to build friendship.
“More than just building that relationship and the friendships, it was also about business. And I was very happy to see members from the Nevis Chamber who also went to St. Barts and were able to meet with the Chamber there to discuss business opportunities. And let me just say to the general public that there are immense opportunities in St. Barts. I want to start with the obvious: tourism. St. Bart’s is really only 15 minutes away by flight, small aircraft, because that’s all that they can accommodate. And really, it’s 15 minutes between Nevis and St. Barts. If we can get scheduled flights in, going in the morning and coming back in the evening, it allows our people to do what we call day tripping. It allows the well-heeled guest who comes to Nevis, that luxury traveller, to pop over to St. Barts for the day, and equally allows that traveller to St. Barts to pop over to Nevis for the day.”
The Premier suggested that, instead of competing, a mutually beneficial relationship with St. Barts would be more fruitful, given that they serve the same clientele.
“Because one of the things that we realised is that in fact the profile of the guest that goes to St. Barts is the same as the profile of the guest that comes to Nevis. People who fit a certain profile, have a certain lifestyle, and a certain disposable income, tend to be the ones who come to these two islands. And so again, the synergies are there, the opportunities are there. So certainly in terms of tourism, day trippers, people who decide, listen, I’m going to come to the Caribbean for a week, I’m going to spend four days in St. Barts, three days in Nevis, or vice versa, and they are able to enjoy in one holiday the French Caribbean, and they’re able to enjoy the English-speaking Caribbean as well on the island of Nevis. Two very authentic and yet very different experiences.”
Brantley expounded on other opportunities available between Nevis and St. Barts.
“There are a host of other opportunities there. St. Barts, for example, is very interested in getting access to the bottled water from Nevis. I know that the good folks from Nelson Spring, who do an excellent product, that they have been to St. Barts before, and they’ve been there again. And so they are in conversations. St. Barts is also keenly interested in whether or not they could get agricultural products from Nevis. In fact, I’m going to throw it out here tonight, that one of the things that the government here will want to pursue is whether or not we can get farmers on Nevis to produce specifically for the export market. That is, to produce specifically to export to St. Barts. Why do I say that? I say that, one, because the price point in St. Barts is quite high. I say that, two, because they have advised me that much of the food that they consume actually comes all the way from France. And it has to fly first to Guadeloupe and then to St. Barts. And if there are difficulties in supply, then obviously, they’re getting food much later. The quality in terms of freshness might not be the same. And when the chaps from Blue Wave told me that the trip down was a mere two hours. So you can take a boat from Nevis to St. Barts in two hours. Imagine if you can load that boat twice a week, three times a week, with the necessary food, meaning lettuce, tomatoes, onions, peppers, things that we can grow quite easily here. Another thing that they really, really would like to get access to is our fresh fruit, particularly our mango.”
Mangoes are also a hot tickety item on the French island, and with the season for the fruit nearing its peak, a possible business opportunity presents itself.
“Just the mango itself, it’s loved in St. Barts, and they don’t have access to mangoes as we do. In fact, I believe the gentleman from agriculture, he said to me that, Mr Reed, he said to me that he had taken over 500 mangoes to St. Barts, different varieties, but of course mostly the Amory Poly. And they were selling them in a bag of five, I think it was, for five euros. Five euros, I think, is about six, six fifty, seven US dollars, somewhere in that range. And they were flying off the shelf. As a matter of fact, it was a two-day festival. And he said to me that he had to keep some back for the second day because he didn’t want all to sell off on the first day. Imagine that. I actually saw people as I walked along the boardwalk, people who were walking, and they had bags of mangoes as they were walking. Mangoes in Nevis, as we say colloquially, are a banging dog. In fact, at this time of year and going into the next, say, month and a half, two months, mangoes will be everywhere. Dropping off the trees, so many mangoes are just wasted. And I look at that as a huge opportunity for some entrepreneur to grab on to and to say, hey, maybe I can do a business where I can get mangoes into places like St. Bars at a premium and supply them with fresh mangoes and other fruits if we can produce them as well.”
After outlining opportunities in agricultural exports, Premier Brantley expressed concern about the lack of excitement and initiative among the local populace to capitalise on them.
“One of the concerns that I’ve always had is that we have so much potential on this island, but we tend to sit back. We tend to sit back. We’re very laid back as a people. And too often when others come into this island, and they hustle, we get vexed with them. We get upset with them. We see them making moves, and we start to say, oh, they come to our country, and they’re doing better than us. I’m saying that it is time for us as a people, as Nevisians, to rise up when we have opportunities to seek them out. Too many of us are sitting back and saying, oh, it’s for the government to do this and for the government to do that.”
The Premier suggested that entrepreneurs seek to expand their horizons within the regional markets available to them.
“I saw something recently, I think it was on social media, and there was a farmer who was cussing out the government in St. Kitts, I believe it was, and saying that he has some crop, I can’t remember what it was, it was either watermelons or pineapples or something, and he has an abundance of it, and he’s saying to the minister, find him a market, find him a market. And whilst I understand the government has its part to play, if you are an entrepreneur, why must you be solely dependent on the government to find your market? How about going out there and speaking to the supermarkets, speaking to the hotels? How about reaching out to the neighbouring islands? I mentioned St. Barts, but you have St. Martin, you have Anguilla, where there is an appetite, in fact, a huge appetite for some of the things that we can produce. Anguilla doesn’t have mangoes like Nevis, St. Martin doesn’t have mangoes like Nevis, and Antigua doesn’t have mangoes like Nevis. There is a huge opportunity for our people to say, ‘You know what, let me get entrepreneurial, let me, if even I want to involve the government, let me talk to the government about, hey, can you guide me into how to get into St. Barts?’ Let me go and join the Chamber and talk to the Chamber and say, ‘Chamber, I want to grow watermelon to send to St. Barts. I want to grow pineapple, I want to have mangoes, avocados, whatever it may be’. This is how I think I want to see our people really starting to think.”
With continued geopolitical tensions straining shipping due to high fuel and insurance costs, exploiting local resources may be one way to drive economic growth and build new trade relationships.
