NIA CHARLESTOWN NEVIS – Premier the Honourable Mark Brantley, Minister of Tourism in the Nevis Island Administration (NIA), is encouraging local tourism stakeholders to prepare for a potentially strong 2024-2025 cruise season.
“We are anticipating some 12,000 or so cruise passengers, 7,000 or so crew, giving us an expectation of about 20,000 visitors to Nevis via sea, via cruise,” he informed at his October 31 press conference.
“I invite our stakeholders, taxi drivers, our vendors, craft vendors, food vendors, etcetera, to get themselves ready. We understand that the cruise season, just like the tourism season, comes at a particular period during the year. So, if in June, July, August, September, or October, you have no cruise ships, then it would seem to be logical that when the cruise ships start to come, you strike the iron while it’s hot- you hustle, you make a living. During that industry time when the season is on, you need to make as much as you can because you understand that you must prepare for when the industry will slow down,” the Tourism Minister advised.
Fifty calls are expected for this year’s cruise season, which includes four inaugural visits. For the 2023-2024 cruise season, Nevis had expected approximately 18,000 passengers from 52 calls.
“So we had two more calls, but we had about two thousand or so fewer passengers [last year],” said Premier Brantley, noting that there may be changes to the schedule due to cancellations and unscheduled visits.
The first call of the 2024-2025 season is scheduled for Sunday, November 10, when the Sea Dream 1, a luxury yacht-style cruise ship, is expected to bring more than 200 persons to Nevis.