Basseterre, St. Kitts – 2012 was a banner year for St. Kitts in the travel press with a number of top publications, including US News & World Report, MSNBC, About.com and USA Today, singling out the island as among the best places to visit. The most recent accolade, on December 27, went to St. Kitts’ popular Mr. X’s Shiggidy Shack, named as one of the 20 Great Caribbean Beach Bars by About.com, which had also included Cockleshell Beach in a list of the Top 20 Beaches in the Caribbean earlier in the year.
“More and more respected media outlets are recognizing St. Kitts as our tourism product develops,” said Senator Ricky Skerritt, Minister of Tourism & International Transport. “These publications are read by affluent, discerning travelers, who have the discretionary income to spend on our islands to the benefit of our local people.
The six-year story of the acceleration of our tourism development since the closure of our sugar industry is a remarkable one that is being discovered by more and more quality media concerns.
In 2006, our Government created a multi-tiered strategic plan aimed to stimulate investment in our tourism infrastructure and a shift to a more targeted visitor. Simultaneously, we began aggressively marketing our destination and focusing on improving our standards and empowering our people in order to reap the maximum benefits from the sector.”
St. Kitts is currently ranked at #2 in a list of the 16 Best Caribbean Vacations and #4 in a list of the 12 Best Islands in the World by US News & World Report. Just last month, St. Kitts was named one of the Top 10 Winter Sun Holiday Destinations by PureTravel.com and in November it rated among the Editor’s Picks for 2012-2013: Best of the Caribbean by Caribbean Travel & Leisure. In February, St. Kitts was dubbed one of the 10 Caribbean Islands You Shouldn’t Miss – The Best of the Caribbean in 2012” by SmarterTravel.com as well as one of 5 Caribbean Islands to Discover Now by MSNBC (as syndicated from a December 2011/January 2012 article in Arthur Frommer’s Budget Travel magazine. The island was also designated as one of the Top 12 Spots that Should Be On Your List for 2012 by Caribbean Travel + Life magazine.
In addition, many of the island’s tourism attractions were selected as hot spots to experience in 2012. In January, the island’s Brimstone Hill Fortress was cited as one of 10 Great Places To Explore The World’s Best-Kept Secrets by USA Today while Cruise-Addicts.com called Port Zante one of “10 Great Caribbean Cruise Ports.
The combined readership for the above designations alone is more than 1 billion, effectively promoting St. Kitts as a premiere vacation destination.
