St. Kitts courts trade sales

St. Kitts has put the UK travel trade at the heart of its 2024 sales and marketing strategy, as the sugar isle seeks to reinforce the growth in visitation it enjoyed in 2023.  

The destination kicked off the year with roadshows, events and increased visits to retail travel agencies, and has a host of activity scheduled for the remainder of the year to engage the trade and boost sales.  

The 2024 strategy is centred around four key activities to support the trade: quarterly in-person events; training via webinars or in-person visits to tour operators and agents; b2b partnerships; and fam trips. 

“The travel trade continues to be a vital generator of sales for St. Kitts in the UK market and our team is committed to training and educating the trade on the wonderful attributes of our island,” said Ellison “Tommy” Thompson, CEO of St. Kitts Tourism Authority.

“To increase visibility and stimulate bookings for St. Kitts and our hotel products within the travel agent community, we are communicating regularly through our travel agent portal, My St. Kitts Rewards, delivering more webinars and getting out on the road to visit our trade partners and provide in-store training.

“Our shift to quarterly events helps us to engage, in-person, with agents and operators more regularly, and the fam trips we have planned for Q4 will give them the opportunity to experience and connect with our island and better sell St. Kitts to their customers.  We have also launched a marketing campaign with Gold Medal that will run until end of July 2024.

“Being shortlisted for “tourist board of the year” at The Travel Industry Awards by TTG recently, is testament to the success we have achieved in the UK market and we’re excited to continue our trade momentum throughout 2024 and beyond.”

St. Kitts can be easily reached from the UK via twice weekly, year-round flights from London Gatwick with British Airways.