Travel Track On Sirk TV Interview: Marsha Henderson (Minister Of Tourism) For "St Kitts - Summer Tourism" - video Dailymotion

Travel Track

St. Kitts Minister Of Tourism Marsha Henderson talks to Travel Track about sustainability, accommodations, festivals, culinary, rum and summer tourism on the Caribbean island.

Transcript

00:00You know, Saint Kitts is sort of that unique oasis.

00:29But it has so many things that are uniquely its own.

00:33From your perspective, but also looking at the business of what obviously Saint Kitts

00:39is, could you talk to those two elements, both just sort of your perspective, but then

00:45an outwardly perspective in that way?

00:48Right.

00:49For me, Saint Kitts is the closest thing to paradise.

00:54As you say, it happens to be the perfect blend for visitors, because we offer options for

01:00relaxation as well as options for adventure.

01:04And so we think we appeal to all visitors, actually, and we are known for our warm hospitality

01:12of vibrant and rich culture and history here in Saint Kitts, and of course, our breathtaking

01:19landscapes.

01:20We're nicely nestled in the Eastern Caribbean.

01:25And we're very easy to get here to Saint Kitts, very easy to get here to Saint Kitts, actually.

01:39You know, you deal with civil aviation, too.

01:41So you have to know how to...

01:44Could you talk about that and sort of the ease and trying to make that whole idea easier?

01:49Because it's about getting there, getting through and enjoying your time there.

01:53You know, obviously, you were brought in, you know, post-COVID, but everything's so

01:57much changed since then, too, correct?

02:00Right.

02:01And so since our COVID, we've increased our efforts to increase lifts to the destination.

02:08And so we have nonstop flights daily from Miami.

02:13And we also have JetBlue out of JFK.

02:17And this is three times weekly on Tuesdays, Thursdays and Sunday.

02:21We also have lifts out of Atlanta and out of Canada as well, and Newark.

02:29And so we continue our efforts to make sure that it's easy to get to Saint Kitts as well.

02:44Well, to ask that, I mean, because it's interesting seeing those feeder markets.

02:48What do you find people are looking for?

02:50And does it range generationally between the young, the, you know, obviously in their middle

02:56age and the older?

02:57Is there...

02:58Where do you...

02:59What have you found as far as appealing to these demographics?

03:01Right.

03:03And so what we found post-COVID is that our visitors were looking for immersive type experiences.

03:10And so we've created a product here in Saint Kitts where our visitors can actually immerse

03:15themselves in the destination.

03:17So what separates us actually from other sun destinations is all the other things that

03:23Saint Kitts has to offer in terms of adventure, history, culture, and even culinary.

03:30And so we like to say to our visitors, venture deeper into Saint Kitts.

03:35We've seen a change in demographics as well.

03:38We've seen solar travelers and even more younger travelers as well.

03:44Usually we would see those ranging from maybe 45 upwards, you know, but now we're seeing

03:50an interest from younger travelers as well for the destination.

04:09To go into a microcosm of that, you were mentioning three.

04:13I think you said one was history, one was culinary, and maybe one was adventure.

04:18I believe.

04:19I'm not sure.

04:20Adventure.

04:21Yeah.

04:22Could you go into a microcosm of that, like, and give an example if you have one of those

04:27like different experiences, like if it's at a historical house or adventure, if it's ziplining,

04:33if you might, because people, sometimes they don't know quite what that means, per se.

04:38Right.

04:39So for adventure, I would recommend the Rum Master Experience.

04:44For me, it's adventurous because it's a tour that provides for the visitor, it's two phases

04:51of the tour.

04:52The first, of course, is the theoretical aspect of the tour, where you go and you learn the

04:56rich history of rum and sugar, and even how life was on the plantation here in St. Kitts.

05:03So it starts at Wingfield Estate, where we preserved the estate, and visitors get the

05:09opportunity to walk the estate, see the ruins, and actually experience what cultivating and

05:15making sugar, how we did that.

05:17Then the second phase of the tour happens to be at Reggae Beach.

05:22And you go there, you create your own cocktail.

05:25So it's more, not the theoretical part, but actually the physical part where you go and

05:30you actually create your own cocktail.

05:33It's nicely done on Reggae Beach, and Nevis is seen in the, you can actually see Nevis

05:39on the other side.

05:40And forgive me, it's not Reggae Beach, it's actually Spice Mill on the southeast, yes.

05:53And then the culinary, what have you found with that?

06:03So definitely culinary, we have a number of farm-to-table experiences.

06:09And so you can actually go to the farm, eat what we actually grow on the farm.

06:14And so we have that at Liomega Natural Farms.

06:18There's a farm-to-table experience there as well.

06:20And there's the ocean-to-fork experience down at Arthur's.

06:24So you actually eat the lobster, the catch of the day, the fish, the conch, freshly-catched

06:30conch and fish and lobster, and you can actually eat there at Arthur's.

06:35It's on the beach, breathtaking views of Stayshire and the St. Bats, which are islands that are

06:41very close to St. Kitts.

06:43And so culinary here is diverse.

06:46We even have the local food, which is our cook-up or sauce or what we call blood pudding.

06:53We have all of that here.

06:54So it ranges from local to gourmet dining.

06:58And so it's very diverse.

07:00We're known, and luckily for us, our culinary is actually tied to our history here in St.

07:05Kitts.

07:06And so even in our food, you can experience our story about who we are as the people,

07:12the culture, and the history here in St. Kitts through our culinary as well.

07:28Specific sort of really focus in what you're talking about, you know, and on top of that,

07:33I would ask about obviously the accommodation features, because obviously you're going to

07:36have some of the bigger ones, but you probably have very authentic accommodation experiences

07:42I would think as well.

07:43Can you talk about that?

07:44Because that keys into the history, that keys into the food, that keys into the landscape.

07:49Absolutely.

07:50And interestingly, what you did not mention as well is our feature on sustainability.

07:55So we have a wide range of properties offered here on St. Kitts.

07:59We have the boutique-style hotels.

08:01We have the five-star hotels.

08:03We have, like I mentioned, Ly Omega Farm.

08:06We have the cottage rustic type of experience where our visitors can actually go unplug.

08:12There is no service, internet service here.

08:17You actually eat from the farm and you just get to disconnect.

08:21So we have, outside the Ly Omega Farms, you can actually stay there.

08:25We have the Marriott.

08:26We have five-star brands like Park Hyatt, and we also have sustainable properties.

08:31A lot of them are emerging where our properties actually have a number of sustainable practices.

08:38We find that a lot of visitors are actually looking to that as well to make sure that

08:43they themselves are contributing to the sustainability of the industry and the destination.

08:49Is there one sustainable property that jumps out to you beyond the farm we talked about?

08:54That's Sunset Reef, and that property actually won Sustainable Property of the Year this

09:00year.

09:01So Sunset Reef.

09:02So you can look it up and you would find all the sustainable features as well that relates

09:07to Sunset Reef.

09:19And then, obviously, we're in summer, and I wanted to key in on that, obviously.

09:24People love just running in for the weekend or coming for festivals.

09:27There's probably a very diverse amount of festivals.

09:30Are there a couple of festivals this summer that you would recommend that would be easy,

09:34like if people are coming from Miami or Atlanta or New York, for that matter?

09:39Right.

09:40So like I mentioned earlier, the Eastern Kids Music Festival, and you can come in from the

09:45various places you mentioned.

09:46We have the Nevis Mango Festival, which features everything mango, mixed cocktails, food, drink,

09:55and Nevis boasts of having 64 varieties of mangoes.

09:59And so we also have the Nevis Mango Festival, the Eastern Kids Music Festival, and we also

10:04have CPL, which is the Caribbean Premier Cricket League, and it's the biggest party in sports.

10:10That's what we call it.

10:11And that is, it's going to be running from the end of August into September, where we

10:16go and we watch cricket, we party and we drink what we like to drink here, rum, or wine is

10:22your preference.

10:24But we do have the biggest festival in sports, which is CPL as well.

10:28And my last question, thank you so much.

10:55What are you most proud of as the Minister of Tourism that just in terms of the identity

11:01of St. Kitts and how it's evolved, how it continues to evolve?

11:04What are you most proud of, from your perspective?

11:08To me, I am extremely proud of the fact that we continue to be a sustainable destination.

11:14We do have what we call a sustainable destination council.

11:18And we encourage not just only our visitors, but our stakeholders as well to embark on

11:23sustainable practices, whether it relates to the banning of single-use plastic or our

11:28ability to provide our cruise partners with shore power so that there are no emissions

11:36into the air and a number of other sustainable practices for stakeholders like Sunset Reef

11:43just to make sure that within the decades to come that we still have a destination to

11:48sell and a place to live.

11:50So that for me is the thing I'm most proud of and that our people continue to benefit

11:59from this industry as well.

Travel Track On Sirk TV Interview: Marsha Henderson (Minister Of Tourism) For "St Kitts - Summer Tourism"

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