Charlestown, Nevis – February 13, 2007
Premier Parry of Nevis, the Hon. Joseph Parry, says he foresees an increase in cruise ship arrivals in the Federation. This remark was born out of the positive reception he received from cruise ship industry’s officials during his recent trip to South Florida.
Premier Parry was part of a joint Saint Kitts – Nevis delegation which included the St. Kitts Minister of Tourism Hon. Ricky Skerritt, the new C.E.O for Tourism (St. Kitts) Mr. Errol Douglas, and Managing Director of the Saint Kitts Scenic Railway, Mr. Steven Hites.” I am very pleased at the outcome of our meetings and the responses Nevis received are very favorable as many of the sales and marketing persons that we met have all agreed that Nevis should be a part of any good cruise ship itinerary,” the Premier said.
While in South Florida, the delegation met with heads of cruise lines such as Royal Caribbean, Celebrity Cruises, Seaburn and others to discuss an increase in visits to the Twin-Island Federation.
Premier Parry noted that Nevis has a very up-market image and more cruise lines would like to visit Nevis. He stated, however, that there is some difficulty with cruise ships coming to Nevis because of inadequate deep water berthing facilities on Nevis. To this end, Mr. Parry revealed that the cruise ship industry is presently waiting for the Federation to put together a Ferry System that can receive cruise ship passengers in St. Kitts and taxi them to Nevis. This idea would make Nevis more accessible since the berthing facilities on St. Kitts are presently quite good.
“The absolutely great concept of the meetings was that this was the first time that Nevis participated as an equal partner with St. Kitts. We have now learnt that Nevis has a great sophisticated, mystic edge that can help enhance the St. Kitts-Nevis package to the Cruise Ship Industry’s Sales and Marketing Department and eventually its consumers,” said Mr. Hites.