BASSETERRE, St. Kitts – MINISTER of State with responsibility for Tourism, the Hon. Ricky Skerritt has assured the nation of the resilience of the local tourism industry.
In an address to Parliament earlier this week, the Senator said that although hotel occupancy rates and tourist expenditure had declined, heavy investment in infrastructure, support for local and foreign stakeholders, and innovative market activity were enabling the local tourism industry to weather the global economic storm.
He pointed to initiatives employed by the St. Kitts Tourism Authority (SKTA) as an example of efforts undertaken in response to the crisis.
“The SKTA has adopted a targeted, proactive and focused approach through an integrated marketing programme. Their activities have included advertising in top niche market publications, maintaining a high-profile presence at selected consumer and travel trade events, disseminating a consumer-focused email programme to over 15 000 subscribers every month, hosting a vibrant destination website, and implementing social media networking initiatives through YouTube postings and a new Facebook page,” Skerritt said.
He noted that the government’s 2006 decision to shift the balance of the visitor target market towards providing a high-quality destination experience for more sophisticated customers with greater spending power had been the right one. He added that the presence of world-class developers and investors such as Christophe Harbour and Ocean’s Edge had reinforced this position.
“To effectively penetrate this market requires an aggressive programme that includes attracting and maintaining appropriate airlift, providing a superior visitor experience on St. Kitts and implementing a consistent and well-integrated marketing programme.
“Our airlift programme has been the envy of several of our neighbouring destinations. At a time last year when other islands were losing international capacity, air service to St. Kitts was increasing. We secured a direct flight from London by British Airways, as well as increased non-stop service on American Airlines and Delta from the cities of Miami, New York and Atlanta,” Skerritt revealed.
The Tourism Minister referenced the recently announced Small Hotels Incentive Package and the Service Standards and Training Programme as two projects undertaken by the Ministry to help improve the tourism product and prepare persons to provide a higher quality of service.
He stressed the importance of providing quality service, despite cost cutbacks, and encouraged local tourism businesses to conceptualise low-cost ways to trim their costs while improving life for their customers.
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