Investments In St. Kitts – Nevis
Basseterre, St. Kitts – Nevis
Decemebr 08, 2008 (CUOPM)
Loss of wealth and a drop in consumer confidence as a result of the global financial crisis are impacting negatively on consumer expenditure and hotels in St Kitts and Nevis are experiencing lower bookings now, compared to this time last year.
But Federal Minister of Finance, Dr. the Hon. Timothy Harris at a Press Conference Monday, ahead of his 2009 Budget Address on December 16th said several tourism related projects have to date not been affected by the global financial crisis and expressed cautious optimism that St. Kitts and Nevis will must maintain its competitive edge in foreign direct investment.
He disclosed that the Federal Government proposes to allocate more funds to tourism marketing and to increase airlifts into the Federation.
He said that while cruise arrivals still continue to be positive, there has been a noticeable reduction in expenditure by cruise passengers.
“It is important to note that both high end and more economical type hotels are experiencing soft depressed Fall seasons. We can reasonably predict that the 2009 Tourism Season will not yield the same level of stay over tourist arrivals nor would expenditure be equal to that of 2008,” said Minister Harris.
He pointed out that the Four Seasons Hotel on Nevis, which is a huge contributor to tourist arrivals and tourist expenditure, will be out of service for 2009 Winter Season.
“The loss of this is significant not only for Nevis, where Four Season contributes near 70 percent of tourism expenditure but to the entire Federation. Four Seasons with its 196 hotel rooms was the second largest hotel in the Federation. Its high end passengers were significant to the meeting of desirable seat occupancy levels with major airlines and contributed in no small way to the profitability of those routes,” said the Federation’s Minister of Finance.
