Saint Kitts Music Festival: hot line-up

Kerwin DuBois, Bounty Killer and ASWAD on Saint Kitts Music Festival Line-up

By William Doyle-Marshall

    Caribbean tourism policymakers and air services and route development planners will gain invaluable intelligence on the subject from a top airline route development expert considered a specialist in the field. This takes place during Caribbean Week in New York June 2^nd at the Wyndham New Yorker Hotel in New York.

   The Caribbean Tourism Organization (CTO), has organized a special masterclass in air service development by David Stroud, the managing director of Airport Strategy and Marketing Limited (ASM), a UK-based global company which helps airports and their destination partners attract new routes. The session is designed “to provide new insights” to CTO member countries seeking to attract new airlines or additional seats to their destinations.  The session, is titled “Strategies for Successful Air Service Development.”

   “The days are gone where people can sit back and expect business to come their way because they have a great facility or the beaches are attractive or there’s a fantastic hotel development down the road, so if we build the airport people will come.  Those days are over all over the world,” Stroud said.

   The ASM executive will share information on the next era of route development, how Caribbean airports and destinations can be competitive and in tune with what the market wants, what airlines are demanding and how destinations are responding to these demands; and how Caribbean route developers can prepare to deal with carriers and tour operators. For more information about the masterclass and Caribbean Week New York visit www.CaribbeanWeek.com, email CaribbeanWeek@caribtourism.com, call (212) 635-9530, or connect on Twitter @CaribbeanWeekNY and on www.facebook.com/caribbeanweekny.

   Among sponsors and supporters of Caribbean Week are 5*Cap Est lagoon & Spa Resort - Martinique, American Express, Anguilla, Antigua & Barbuda, Association of Travel Marketing Executives, Barbados, Belize, British Virgin Islands, Caribbean Airlines, Caribbean News Service; Conde Nast, Curacao, Dominica, Grace Foods, Haiti, Jamaica, The New York Times, Puerto Rico, Routes, St. Kitts, Saint Lucia, St. Maarten, St. Martin, St. Vincent & the Grenadines, The Atrebor Group, Travel + Leisure, TripAdvisor, Unique Vacations/Sandals Inc, US Virgin Islands  and Wyndham New Yorker.

  Meanwhile, The St. Kitts Tourism Authority has announced plans for staging its world-renowned Music Festival from June 25th through June 27th at the historic Warner Park Stadium. This is one of the country’s major tourist attractions. Music lovers from North America, the Caribbean and elsewhere in the world pack hotels to enjoy days of rhythmic expressions covering various genres.

   This year’s line-up includes a strong team from Trinidad and Tobago -- Roy Cape and His Kaiso All Stars, Patrice Roberts, Kerwin Du Bois and Benjai; Jamaica’s Bounty Killer, Christopher Martin and U.K.-based Aswad are among headline artistes.

    Minister of Tourism, Lindsay Grant is excited about the 2015 edition of the Festival, which has become one of the most anticipated events in the Caribbean’s calendar of events.  “The St. Kitts Music Festival has grown over the years into a unique event that showcases international music stars alongside rising local and Caribbean acts,” the Minister said. “Promotion of the Festival started in the island’s various markets to encourage visitors to follow their hearts to St. Kitts, to enjoy one of the most diversified musical weekends in the Caribbean, Grant explained.

Minister Grant also noted that visitors attending the Festival can stay on to revel in the 'Biggest Party in Sport,' which is the Caribbean Premier League. With the destination being awarded the newest cricket franchise in the CPL – the St. Kitts-Nevis Patriots – St. Kitts will host all six neutral games in the CPL in July.

While the Caribbean is seen as a very favoured destination for tourists, the Caribbean Tourism Organization is continuing its efforts to keep the region in the eyes of the world where vacationers are looking for places to spend their money. “In a clear demonstration of strong demand for travel and Caribbean vacation in particular, a record 23.6 million visitors came to enjoy the Caribbean’s unequalled and diverse experience in 2014,” Hugh Riley Secretary General reported in the State of the Industry Report late last year.

   According to Riley those visitors spent a record $29.2 billion (U.S.) “This means that in 2014 1.3 million more visitors came to the Caribbean than in 2013 which itself was a record year, representing a 5.3% rise and well above the projected two to three percent increase,” the secretary general continued. Based on last year’s performance and considering the series of regional activities for 2015 so far, Caribbean Governments are leaving no stones unturned to ensure they capture their share of the market.