EXCEL, LONDON (November 12, 2009) -- Federation’s High Commissioner to the United Kingdom, His Excellency Dr James Williams, has commended the joint effort by both St. Kitts Tourism Authority and the Nevis Tourism Authority at the 30th edition of the prestigious World Travel Market (WTM) which ended on Thursday November 12 at the Excel Exhibition Centre in London.
“As usual, it is quite a pleasure to see both St. Kitts and Nevis participating in WTM this year,” said Dr Williams when he visited the St. Kitts-Nevis stand on the final day. “To me it is one of the most effective ways of advertising our country.”
The High Commissioner lamented that whereas St. Kitts and Nevis are two beautiful islands, sometimes people hear some negatives. He pointed out that the unity in the marketing drive displayed at the World Travel Market gives the country a chance to highlight a lot of the positives.
It was his hope that the attendance at the World Travel Market is something which will bring great benefits to the Federation in terms of tourism investors and hotel arrivals, and that the two islands will continue exhibiting the unity, which was evident at the World Travel Market stand at Excel.
Both St. Kitts and Nevis were marketing themselves as high end tourism destinations and when asked if this would be of advantage, Dr Williams said: “Yes because the whole success of any event is proper advertising and this gives the sort of advertising which is absolutely necessary and the end result is the benefit we would like to have.”
The High Commissioner also noted that the second British Airways flight into St. Kitts from next year would help boost the number of tourists visiting the Federation, stating that he has been getting positive response from many people who want to visit.
“We are having a lot more people who are asking about travelling to St. Kitts,” said Dr Williams. “A lot of people did have a problem in terms of the Saturday flight to St. Kitts, but they now realise it is an option where they can use the Wednesday flight as well.
“Just recently I signed the short term visa agreement so that everybody basically from the Schengen states can travel to St. Kitts without a visa. Quite a few people are happy now to hear that there are increased flights, so they can have easy access.”
Short-term visa, which will be an added incentive to tourists coming to St. Kitts allows persons to stay in the country for as long as three months within a six month-period.
He explained that Schengen is a grouping of 37 European countries. However, while France and Holland are members, their dependent territories are not covered. The only European countries that are not covered by the agreement are Norway, Iceland, and Liechtenstein, but Dr Williams observed that discussions are already in place to have the same agreement signed with them.
