BASSETERRE, St. Kitts (Dec./12/17) - MINISTER with responsibility for Tourism, Hon. Lindsay Grant, is looking to boost the number of stayover tourists, to St. Kitts and Nevis.
Grant told the National Assembly during the recent budget debate that his attention would be placed on that over the next two years.
“The focus has to be on how do we grow stay-overs. Because, you would appreciate that stay-overs bring more economic benefits than cruise. The difference is however, cruise gives you instant gratification because you see hundreds and thousands of persons down there.”
Earlier this year, the Minister raised concerns about the thinning off of stay-over tourists coming to the island, despite an increase in airlifts.
The minister explained that when it comes to cruises, vendors, hair braiders and others associated with the sector would have lots of money passing through their hands on a daily basis.
“But over the next couple of years, I would be exerting my energy to ensure that we get in a different space when it comes to stay-overs. Because stay-overs have been flat, Mr. Speaker.”
He acknowledged that the numbers have been flat under the previous administration and it remains that way under the present government.
During a media interview earlier this year, the minister pointed out that he is not looking at the growth of the tourism sector in St. Kitts through the lens of the cruise industry only, but rather in the number of the stay-overs, which generates a lot more revenue for the country.
“I’m looking at where we have a lot of work to do, and we have a lot of work to do in stay-over visitors,” he said. “We have been flat for the past five years at 125,000 passengers [and] we need to move that needle upwards.”.
He was adamant during that interview that his goal for 2020 is to increase the numbers by at least 50%.
The minister told the House during the budget debate that he would like to see a 10% increase rather than the current 3%.
A number of developments have taken place throughout the year, which he is expecting to increase.
Grant pointed to the increased airlifts by United Airlines by more than 50%, Delta Airlines’ implementation of an additional weekly flight to St. Kitts – that is being done out of JFK, beginning on December 23 - among other initiatives.
The minister earlier this year noted that before he demits office, he would like to see the number of stayovers grow to upwards of 200,000 passengers.
