Published 1 September 2022
Basseterre
Buckie Got It St. Kitts and Nevis News Source
REFRESHED, RE-ENERGIZED AND RE-STRATEGIZED IN AUGUST
The Tourism Authority continues to experience tourism success through sports and its dedication to refining industry standards
Basseterre (01 September 2022) Summer is drawing to a close, and this means it’s time for the busy winter season. The destination continues to soar and achieve tourism success through multiple initiatives. St. Kitts welcomed the newly appointed Minister of Tourism, Civil Aviation, International Transport, Employment and Labour and Urban Development the Honourable Marsha T. Henderson. Minister Henderson will work closely with the St. Kitts Tourism Authority, associated agencies and stakeholders to create and execute plans to drive domestic and international travel to the destination. “I am extremely excited to champion my new role as Minister of Tourism. I commend our industry for its resilience and perseverance over the past two years. As we look towards the future, I am confident that our tourism sector will continue to lead the rebuilding process as we accelerate our plans for the upcoming season.” stated Minister Henderson.
St. Kitts announced the removal of all COVID-19 entry requirements to St. Kitts and Nevis effective 15th August 2022. As the globe continues to recover from the effects of the pandemic, many destinations have eased restrictions to boost economic activity to create a greater balance between lives and livelihoods and increase recovery rate. St. Kitts anticipates that the removal of the restrictions will boost demand for the destination and result in increased travel.
The destination is well underway with its preparations for the upcoming season. Newly appointed Minister of Tourism, Honourable Marsha Henderson, engaged stakeholders within the tourism industry during her first two weeks in office. The Minister hosted meetings with hoteliers, taxi drivers, tour bus operators, and tour operators. These meetings provided a platform to dialogue and refine partnerships with stakeholders, the Ministry, and the Authority aimed at improving the economic impact of tourism and enhancing industry standards. The Minister will continue her series of meetings in September and October.
In addition to its key stakeholder consultation, the St. Kitts Tourism Authority in collaboration with Royal Caribbean Group, hosted a series of summer workshops for cruise stakeholders in preparation for the upcoming 2022-2023 cruise season. The summer workshops successfully provided ATV operators, catamaran operators, safari operators, St. Kitts Scenic Railway, and taxi operators the opportunity to refine their knowledge and skills based on ever-changing industry trends post a COVID-19 era.
St. Kitts has a strong foundation as it continues its rebuild. The SKTA Chief Executive Officer, Mr. Ellison “Tommy” Thompson, shared that the cruise sector is trending in a positive direction and in time will reach pre covid levels of 2019. With the lifting of the COVID-19 travel entry requirements, St. Kitts is back in the race. “The lifting of all travel entry requirements comes at an opportune time as we prepare for our vibrant and innovative branch launch in September.”
The St. Kitts Tourism Authority continues to expand its reach to market the destination by attending various international trade shows. The US Sales Team of the St. Kitts Tourism Authority recently attended the Land-X-Change MICE (Meetings, Incentives, Conferences, & Exhibitions) Conference held in Nassau, Bahamas on August 17-21, 2022. This opportunity allowed the team to meet with over 40 MICE planners, including Maritz Global Events, Helmbriscoe, JR Global Events, Creative Group, Prestige Global Meeting Source, and American Guest sourcing destinations to accommodate their clients. The team also attended the 2022 ASTA Global Convention held in San Francisco to brief travel advisors and agencies on the unique selling points of the destination with the aim of boosting bookings.
As summer winds down, St. Kitts maintains its reputation as being an exciting destination of choice. The destination is becoming progressively versatile as a result of its strategic marketing efforts to its various niches. Sports Tourism played an integral role in August by contributing to increased visitation to the island and allowing St. Kitts to be showcased to a massive global audience. The destination hosted in its entirety the inaugural 6IXTY – Cricket’s Power Game which comprised a total of (19) nineteen matches and was championed by our home team the St. Kitts-Nevis Patriots men’s team and the Barbados Royals women’s team. Fans were extremely elated to see the SKN Patriots claim the inaugural 6IXTY men’s championship trophy. The fun and excitement were far from over as the island transitioned and welcomed the Caribbean Premiere League (CPL) to St. Kitts for its first set of matches. The joint tournament played by both men’s and women’s teams saw the likes of Chris Gayle, Dwayne Bravo, Hayley Matthews, Stafanie Taylor, Jeremiah Louis, and Andre Russell, to name a few, as massive crowds assembled at Warner Park Stadium for each game with incredible excitement.
As we enter the month of September, the St. Kitts Tourism Authority will continue to capitalize on global marketing and promotional efforts as the team continues to work diligently on the execution of a new brand launch which is anticipated to be a key marketing tool to encourage increased visitor arrival for the upcoming season.
