St. Kitts sees Increase in stayover visitors from the U.S. UK and Europe and cruise passengers

BASSETERRE, ST. KITTS – 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.