BASSETERRE, St. Kitts -- ADDRESSING the challenges facing stayover tourism is a key objective for Kelly Fontenelle, the newly appointed Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of the St. Kitts Tourism Authority (SKTA).
Starting July 1, Fontenelle succeeded Bahamian Ellison Thompson, who aimed to build on the foundations laid by his predecessor. Now, Fontenelle is focused on carving out her own path to further enhance the local tourism product.
In an interview with SKNVibes News, Fontenelle highlighted the Federation’s unique attributes that set it apart from other destinations. She noted that these distinctive features make marketing St. Kitts easier compared to other Caribbean locales.
“What have I seen thus far? St. Kitts is a beautiful destination with the type of product that travelers are looking for. It's a product that we do not, we don't have to market the sea of sameness for the Caribbean. We don't have to market the beach, but we have the product to market the activities, the things to do to experience the destination. One of the things I noticed since I've been here is when it comes to culinary markets, the culinary markets in St. Kitts is above some destinations,” she explained.
Fontenelle believes that the local cuisine offers a significant advantage in promoting the destination.
“Our food is a unique selling point. It’s a niche market we can leverage to promote St. Kitts effectively,” she said.
Addressing the challenges related to stayover tourism, Fontenelle acknowledged that St. Kitts is relatively unknown as a stayover destination. The perception of high costs exacerbates this issue.
“While St. Kitts is known for its cruise arrivals, it is less recognized for stayover tourism, partly due to the perceived high costs. However, this perception doesn’t always reflect reality. When you break down the numbers, it’s not as expensive as it might seem. Additionally, the lack of all-inclusive resorts means that St. Kitts is less familiar to many travel agents, who play a crucial role in promoting Caribbean destinations,” Fontenelle explained.
When asked about the potential economic benefits of attracting tourists through all-inclusive hotels, Fontenelle noted that these establishments might not necessarily benefit the Federation economically.
Now that you're the CEO, is that one of the areas that you'll be seeking to tackle with the government who are pushing to get more hotels and luxury brand hotels in St. Kitts?
“ All-inclusive. Not necessarily. I mean, all-inclusive tend to have the visitors to stay on property. I think St. Kitts is a destination where you go beyond the resorts. So having them to get out of the hotel, experience the food, go to the local restaurant, I think that's an asset. That's an asset for the destination. It's just a way of positioning ourselves to let our visitors know, our travel agents know, that yeah, we do not have all-inclusive. However, we have so much outside of the property for you to visit. It also helps with living expenditure, helping the economy.
She continued: "When the visitors go out of the resort, they spend. They go to the little restaurants, they go to the bars. So it can work in our favor. We just need to position ourselves like that. That's what we have. Because some of the most popular destinations in the Caribbean have a lot of all-inclusives. But when you look at the high-end destinations, they don't have all-inclusives. And you go and look at St. Barthes, look at Anguilla. So it's a smaller market, a luxury market, and that's what we are."
