Authenticity bringing success to St. Kitts & Nevis

Things seem to be going pretty well these days for St. Kitts & Nevis as Minister of Tourism, Civil Aviation, International Transport, Employment and Urban Development, the Honourable Marsha Tamika Henderson will tell you.

“For the first quarter of 2025, we’ve welcomed 46,641 visitors to St. Kitts … which represents a 15% increase year over year,” Minister Henderson told Travel Press Today.

“For us,” Minister Henderson continued, “that significantly surpasses pre-pandemic figures which are our benchmark,” and noting further that “in the 2024-2025 peak season, we recorded 78,077 arrivals and that outperformed the previous years as well.”

There’s further goods news as Air Canada has confirmed its return for the upcoming winter season, operating from Nov. 15, 2025 to April 25, 2026 using a 201-seat Airbus A321 — a significant upgrade from the 136-seat A319.

As for what accounts for the growing demand for the St. Kitts experience, Melnecia Marshall, Deputy CEO of the St. Kitts Tourism Authority, explained that: “One of the things that we really worked on was increasing the visibility of St. Kitts & Nevis. Many people were previously indicating that they’d never heard of St. Kitts or never visited St. Kitts and so, we increased our consumer activity, our PR and also our engagement with the [travel] trade.”

Those travel trade initiatives, she said, were designed to really drive demand for the destination by putting offers in the Canadian market that would incentivize travel, but also to sell the destination for what it is.

In this respect, Marshall observed: “As the Minister will tell you, St. Kitts is a very authentic experience and so, that is what we’re putting out there. We’re not trying to create something for the visitors — we want them to know that they can come and have an authentic Kittian experience – one that is off-the-beaten path and still have all of the traditional amenities that you would want in a vacation.”

Minister Henderson and Deputy CEO Marshall were in Toronto over the weekend, meeting with the diaspora here for the Anguilla Nevis St. Kitts Reunion (ANSA) where the Minister was giving the keynote address.

And they took advantage of her appearance at the event to launch the St. Kitts & Nevis ‘We Limin’ Campaign for the diaspora here in Canada.

The new campaign invites nationals and their descendants to return home, reunite with family, but also to act as brand ambassadors for St. Kitts & Nevis. For full details of the campaign, go to: https://www.visitstkitts.com/diaspora-program .

They also used their visit to Canada to remind the travel trade of the “Summer Unscripted” campaign that St. Kitts & Nevis has in the market here.

Minister Henderson told TPT that the Summer Unscripted campaign has been designed “to drive demand for the destination during the shoulder period, outside of the winter season.”

And there is certainly a lot on offer during the shoulder or off season period, including the St. Kitts Music Festival, Restaurant Week (it’s actually 10 days), the Culturama Carnival on Nevis, CPL Cricket and more.

For more on Summer Unscripted, go to: https://www.visitstkitts.com/plan-your-trip/st-kitts-travel-deals/summer-unscripted .

So, what’s the message to Canadians – both the trade and the consumer – Marshall said that: “For the trade we want to tell them our destination is something that is unique and offers your clients an experience where they can fully immerse themselves in a destination and wander off-the-beaten path and find themselves.’

As for her message, Minister Henderson said: “We want you to come [and visit]. We have an amazing destination.”

In the photo 

Seen here, from l to r, are St. Kitts & Nevis Minister of Tourism, Marsha Henderson and Melnecia Marshall, Deputy CEO of the St. Kitts Tourism Authority.