London, 7 July 2010: The success of the twice-weekly British Airways Gatwick service to St. Kitts was a cause for celebration during a high-profile visit to London by Senator Richard Skerritt, Minister of Tourism and International Transport for St. Kitts & Nevis. The six-day visit, 30 June – 6 July, was intended to further cement the special partnership which the Government of St Kitts & Nevis has forged with British Airways and to raise the profile of this emerging Caribbean destination amongst UK tourism industry partners.
At a strategic review meeting at BA’s Waterside Head Office on Wednesday 30th June with BA route planning decision-makers, Senator Skerritt discussed route performance issues with Richard Tams, Head of UK & Ireland Sales and Marketing, Alison Nicholls, Business Development Manager, and their support team. Discussions highlighted the current state of the slowly recovering UK travel market and the relative strength of the St. Kitts route, making it the fastest growing Caribbean service for the airline with encouragingly strong forward bookings.
Minister Skerritt, said, “The early success of the St. Kitts route, including the midweek Tuesday service which was launched only three months ago, has exceeded our best expectations. This UK airlift success to date, and the optimism coming from all of the British Airways officials and the travel media who I met, is fantastic news for a small island nation like St. Kitts & Nevis in such a challenging economic environment. These results should provide the platform to encourage all of our stakeholders to nurture new and existing partnerships in the UK market, while undertaking new initiatives at home going forward. We look forward to maintaining this special partnership with British Airways long into the future.”
Richard Tams, Head of UK & Ireland sales, said: “We are delighted at the continued success of the St. Kitts route, especially with the second service we introduced three months ago. St. Kitts is a very popular destination and forward bookings look very encouraging, which is testament to the attraction of the island."
The new BA route has sparked growing interest in St. Kitts as a holiday destination from media professionals who met with Minister Skerritt in one on one interviews during the course of his visit, to find out what makes St. Kitts so special as an authentic Caribbean destination. Media were enthused with details of the island’s emerging high quality product, existing key attractions, its natural and unspoilt beauty, genuine hospitality and the overall holiday experience afforded to visitors to St. Kitts & Nevis.
Minister Skerritt also took the opportunity to hold discussions with BA and the media on the troubling subject of the UK Air Passenger Duty (APD), speaking about the growing concern at its likely negative effect on visitors planning to travel to St Kitts, and its anticipated harmful impact on the Caribbean tourism economy as a whole. Skerritt told the UK media interviewers that, in his opinion, the fairest short term solution would be to reband the entire Caribbean into the same tax category as Bermuda and Florida, while working to restructure or remove the tax completely in the long term.
The Tourism Minister’s visit to the UK market concluded with an informal cocktail event held on Monday 5 July, at London’s OXO Tower Restaurant organised jointly by the London office of the St. Kitts Tourism Authority (SKTA) and British Airways, and attended by representatives of British Airways, other UK based stakeholders and travel media. High-profile journalists including Graham Boynton, Group Travel Editor of the Daily Telegraph & Ultra Travel; Mark Hodson of the Sunday Times; Amanda Greenwood of Travel Daily UK, and James Henderson, travel writer, expressed a genuine interest in experiencing St. Kitts & Nevis with a view to promoting the destination to their readers. Other media present who had more recently visited St Kitts included Godfrey Hall from The Luxury Directory and Wedding Ideas, Catherine Leech, Travelguru TV and Graham McKenzie from Travelmole. Also in attendance at the reception were President of the St Kitts-Nevis Hotel & Tourism Association (HTA), Nick Menon, and UK representatives of Ocean’s Edge and Silver Reef, two resort projects currently under construction on St Kitts.
The celebration event also afforded Minister Skerritt the opportunity to express his personal thanks to the UK travel partners and the London based SKTA team for their support in helping to establish the new British Airways St Kitts route so quickly, raising a toast in celebration at the excellent news conveyed to him earlier in his trip by BA officials.
Editor’s Notes
Located in the northern Leeward Islands of the Caribbean, St. Kitts offers a diverse tourism product developed from the destination’s natural beauty, cultural heritage and rich history. The island’s stunning variety of tourism attractions include hiking through the tropical rainforest, riding the scenic railway that connects the island’s sugar plantations, touring Brimstone Hill Fortress, the only man-made UNESCO World Heritage Site in the Eastern Caribbean, and the more traditional pastimes such as watersports, golf, shopping, tennis, gourmet dining, gaming at one of St. Kitts’ two casinos or simply relaxing on one of the island’s sandy beaches. Guests can select from accommodations ranging from intimate plantation inns to larger hotels or resorts.
St. Kitts is currently served twice-weekly on a Saturday and Tuesday from London Gatwick by British Airways, the first scheduled carrier to provide regular airlift to the island. The BA aircraft uses a three class, 280 seat Boeing 777 aircraft holding 40 Club World seats, 24 World Traveller Plus and 216 World Traveller seats.
