St. Kitts-Nevis Put Tourism Numbers on the Board in 2005

The tourism sector in St Kitts and Nevis continued to record strong growth for the third successive year in 2005, the Caribbean Development Bank (CDB) has reported.

The growth in tourism was facilitated by favorable global economic performance, particularly the United States, and large tourism related development investments locally.

CDB said value-added in the tourism sector (hotels and restaurants) grew by an estimated at 10 percent in 2005 compared with 32.6 percent in the previous year.

The buoyancy of the tourism sector in St Kitts and Nevis was maintained by increased promotion and marketing of the destination, improvement in airlift to the Federation, and, higher room capacity.

Increase in airlift to St Kitts and Nevis by American Airlines and U.S. Airways from North America and Excel from London-Gatwick contributed to the growth in stay-over arrivals.