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Ms Helen Kidd, (right) CEO Nevis Tourism Authority being interviewed by Mr. Huey Sargeant of the Government Press and Public Relations Department |
Charlestown Nevis (February 3, 2005) Chief Executive Officer of the Nevis Tourism Authority, Ms. Helen Kidd believes that tourism arrival figures would increase for Nevis and the Caribbean over the next few months. Her assessment is based on the authoritys marketing efforts as well as the impact of the Asian Tsunami tragedy.
Although Ms. Kidd expressed that she hated to profit from anyones loss, she indicated that the figures were showing a change in destination. She said, I can tell you that already, figures are showing that people who had booked into resorts in Thailand and particularly Phuket, those people are looking at the Caribbean because they consider it to be safer, much safer.
Ms. Kidd was updating the Government Press on her recent public relation trip to Manchester and Glasgow in the United Kingdom. She added, Some of our tour operators are talking about switching their bookings that they already had for the Indian Ocean into the Caribbean as a whole, not just Nevis.
She told the press that she was delighted to say that when she looked at the figures for 2002 and 2004, for the first six months of 2004, the island of Nevis had surpassed the entire year of 2002 and that all indications were showing that 2005 would be even better than last year.
In response to what impact the increased in figures would have on the revenue for hotels and guest houses on the island, the CEO commented, I would say that definitely revenues are up and Im also very pleased to say that our guest houses are playing a significant role when it comes to the entire accommodation sector in Nevis.
She observed that the authority held a one day seminar on January 6, and it targeted the guest house owners and managers. She said that Ms Cheryl Andrews of the authoritys Public Relations coordinated the workshop and that the idea was to show the people how to package themselves and market themselves more effectively.
If you think about what happened last year, we had anticipated 67 (cruise) calls and we ended up with I think 105, said Ms. Kidd, who responded to the question about stay over arrivals and cruise arrivals. All indications are, we would surpass the numbers that we did last year, so hopefully, its going to be another good cruise season.
Ms. Kidd hastened to add, Obviously, the cruise season in St. Kitts is going to be incredibly high and we are looking forward for the visitors from those cruise ships coming over here for daily visits as well.
The authority is presently hosting two writers from the Chatelaine Magazine of Canada as well as a group from that magazine is expected to do a fashion shoot of the island in and around Charlestown over the period February 1st to 4th 2005. The authority also expects that the magazine writers would produce at least six more stories which would be published throughout the coming year.
