CARIBBEAN C
About 10,000 Britons visited St Kitts last year
on back of BA flights
St Kitts is much more than a Caribbean cliché and is a serious competitor to destinations more associated with the ever-growing trend towards experiential travel, offering adventure-filled and educational activities. “St Kitts has always offered
experiential holidays and the destination is benefiting from that trend,” she said. “We have never been mass
market – it’s always been a place for meaningful travel that goes well beyond lying on a beach.” Brown lists the range
of activities on offer, from climbing Mount Liamuiga to rainforest tours, zip-lining and paddleboarding. She also highlights St Kitts’ rich
history, which has become very much part of the tourism offering. For centuries, the island relied
on sugar production until that fell into decline in 1970. By the late 1980s, tourism became the number-one income generator.
“This is a whole new playground that opens us up to a new type of tourist”
Even so, Kitts was one of the
“last kids on the block” to turn to tourism in the region and it was not until 2005 that the last sugar-cane harvest took place and the government closed its state-run sugar company.
Rich history
A ride on the popular St Kitts Scenic Railway (pictured), built between 1912 and 1926 to transport sugar cane, pays homage to this history, transporting passengers around the island on a three-hour tour past plantation houses and disused mills. More recently, Brown said the
island had benefited hugely from Christophe Harbour Marina – a
2,500-acre luxury development in the southeastern peninsula that completed phase one in March this year. It includes a mega-yacht marina,
shops, restaurants, two five-star hotels, two beach clubs and real estate, leading many to hail St Kitts as a high-end property hotspot in the Caribbean. “This is a whole new playground
that opens us up to a new type of tourist,” Brown said. “It’s doing very well and is a major income generator for St Kitts.” Meanwhile, a VIP lounge opened
at Robert L Bradshaw airport in 2014. The YU Lounge features a private terminal and vehicle pick-up from the runway, and was only the second YU Lounge to open after that in Mauritius. And with luxury hotel chain
Park Hyatt choosing St Kitts as its first Caribbean destination to open a property in November (TravelWeekly, August 31), the future looks bright.
14 September 2017
travelweekly.co.uk 15
St Kitts and Nevis
l St Kitts and Nevis is one of the smallest countries in the Caribbean in terms of both population and land area
l The country measures around 104 square miles and has a population of about 55,000
l Basseterre is the capital
l St Kitts was formed by volcanoes, all of which are now dormant. The tallest is the 3,792ft Mount Liamuiga on St Kitts
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