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“St. Kitts is stunning—you’ve got mountains, you’ve got the ocean; the topography is breathtaking,” says St. Kitts Tourism’s CEO, Ellison “Tommy” Thompson. “It’s really a very pretty island.”

Thompson is letting all travel advisors know that St. Kitts is open for tourism. “It was the cruise lines that brought the heart of the business to the destination,” he says. “Cruising is extremely important to St Kitts.” Keep in mind, St. Kitts is able to accept Oasis class vessels, “so we can take three Oasis class ships at one time,” he says.

St. Kitts
Scenic Railway.

Thompson says that once cruise passengers arrive in St. Kitts, there are “a variety of tours available. I think the one that is the best seller is the scenic railway. We are the only railway in the Caribbean. It’s an old sugar route, so the 3-hour tour goes along the sugar trails around the whole island—it’s half-way on train, half-way on coach.

“Cruise passengers also have the ability to do the hike up Mount Liamuiga, the island’s highest point. There’s also a zipline. But one of the ones I really like is a catamaran that takes passengers between St. Kitts and Nevis to go snorkeling. They then visit Nevis and there’s a really cool bar there called Sunshine’s Beach Bar & Grill. They have this drink called The Killer Bee and it stings. They also make some of the best conch fritters.”

St. Kitts
View from Mount Liamuiga.

In fact, he notes, “people are unaware of how good the food on St. Kitts is. You have everything from a beach bar to fine dining. We have Indian, we’ve got Thai, we have Mexican, so it’s not just humdrum. You can go to a new restaurant every day and it’s going to be different and spectacular.”

For those clients booked on island, Thompson notes there are quite a few hotel options, including the Park Hyatt St. Kitts Christophe Harbour, the St. Kitts Marriott Resort & The Royal Beach Casino as well as the Royal St. Kitts, both on Frigate Bay, and the Sunset Reef St. Kitts boutique luxury villa hotel on Palmetto Point. The latter, he says, offers spectacular views of the sunset, noting that they “are magical.”

Thompson reminds travel advisors that American Airlines flies out daily from Miami to St. Kitts, “twice daily on Saturday.” There are also flights out of Newark and Charlotte on American Airlines, and out of Atlanta on Delta Air Lines. “We are also trying to get some routes back that we had pre-pandemic—out of Dallas on American Airlines and from JFK on board Delta,” he says.

As we move forward, we are going to incorporate more adventure into the product offerings. We also see romance as a major pillar for us to capitalize on—vow renewals, proposals, weddings, with honeymoons as the sweet spot.
— Ellison “Tommy” Thompson, CEO, St. Kitts Tourism

 

 

 

He stresses that the U.S. is the number-one market for St. Kitts, pointing to travel advisors as extremely important in making that happen. “We have two trade specialists in the U.S.—they do trade shows, webinars, travel agent training, among other things,” he says.

And who should travel advisors have their eye on when recommending St. Kitts? “Our sweet spot when it comes to the age-demographic is 45 and upwards,” Thompson says, “but we also recognize that we have to appeal to a younger demographic. As we move forward, we are going to incorporate more adventure into the product offerings. We also see romance as a major pillar for us to capitalize on—vow renewals, proposals, weddings, with honeymoons as the sweet spot.”

For more information, visit stkittstourism.kn/travel-agents/us.