Expensive Airfare To Blame For Tourism Decline
Basseterre, St. Kitts – Nevis
May 30, 2011
St. Kitts and Nevis is reporting mixed performance in visitor arrivals and cruise passengers.
Temporary Governor Dr. the Hon. Timothy Harris in a statement at the 41st Annual Conference of the Board of Governors of the Caribbean Development Bank (CDB) reported a one percent increase in stay-over arrivals as visitor arrivals.
He said stay over visitors from the major source markets increased. Stay over visitors to St. Kitts and Nevis from the United States went up 2.8%; up 23.1 percent from the United Kingdom and up 13.9 percent from other European countries as a result of an expansion in direct airlift capacity from these destinations.
Arrivals from Canada and the Caribbean declined by 12.5% and 7.3% respectively as airfares from these markets remained unattractive.
In his statement, Minister Harris said the cruise industry remained buoyant during the period under review as cruise passenger arrivals increased by 13.7 percent due to increased port calls which also jumped 13.6%, as the sector continues to benefit from intense negotiations with cruise lines and strategic marketing campaigns.
Overall the tourism sector is estimated to have contracted by 2.0 percent in 2010 when compared to 2009.
American Airlines operates daily scheduled flights to the Robert L. Bradshaw International Airport from Miami International Airport and from JKF International on Wednesdays and Sundays; US Airways operates a schedule flight from North Carolina on Saturdays; Delta Airlines from Atlanta on Saturdays and British Airways on Tuesdays and Saturdays from London’s Gatwick International Airport.
American Eagle also operates flights into St. Kitts’ Robert L. Bradshaw International Airport and Nevis’ Vance Amory International from the Luis Muoz Marin International Airport in Puerto Rico. LIAT and WINAIR also operate daily flights into St. Kitts and Nevis.