St Kitts and Nevis (WINN): St. Kitts Tourism Minister Lindsay Grant listed the strides being made by the destination in an address at the 2017 Tourism Experience Awards at the Marriott Resort.

“So far in 2017 alone, the Wall Street Journal has ranked St Kitts as number 9 on the list of 10 places across the world to vacation in 2017. Coastal Living ranked St Kitts number 16 of the worlds 21 top Luxury Beach Destinations in 2017 and Caribbean Journal has ranked St Kitts as number 11 of 25 Caribbean Destinations to Visit in 2017. Further, St Kitts has been named number 8 of the top 10 Sexiest Places, not me, St Kitts, on the planet by Readers Digest Canada. One of the Best Cruise Destinations by Thrillist and one of 6 Caribbean islands that You Need to Know and Visit Now by Travelocity. In addition, the destination has been ranked by US News and World at number 1 on the list of Best Caribbean Honeymoons, number 2 on the list of the Best Beach Honeymoon Destinations in the world, number 5 on the list of Best Caribbean Family Vacations, number 7 on the list of Best Islands in The World and number 7 on the list of Best Caribbean Vacations.”

Mr. Grant also spoke about other achievements and initiatives,  including the year-old Heart of St Kitts Foundation . 

”One of the foundations primary projects that is now well underway is the Rails to Trails project which is dedicated to the restoration and the maintenance of 1.4 km of our former sugar railway  from Palmetto Point to Challengers, converting it to a hiking and biking trail. This initiative and others in the pipeline has much entrepreneurship potential for our local communities.”

The Tourism Minister said St Kitts must continue to work hard to improve its products to stay on top in a very competitive industry.

“Everyone and every institution, and every entity would not appreciate what we are doing, but one thing we are doing, is ensuring that every single thing that we do is to enure to the benefit of every single Kittitian and Nevisian in this country. Furthermore, we continue to conduct customer service training for all our nationals who work on the front lines of this industry including traditional and non-traditional service providers such as retailer operators, aloe rub vendors, the beach vendors, beach bar operators, water sport operators, primate petting vendors, craft vendors, hair braiders, all of those entities, every single year just to make sure that St Kitts is at the top of the game in this competitive industry.”