Business View Caribbean - Sept. / Oct. 2014

54 %XVLQHVV 9LHZ ‡ &DULEEHDQ ² 6HSWHPEHU ‡ 2FWREHU 6W .LWWV 1HYLV towards tourism. We have some countries that do not have beautiful beaches, but have large mountain ranges and they are also now going into the eco-tourism, and places like Dominica, and Guyana, and St. Vincent are three examples of countries that are using eco-tourism as the way forward. Also, the others are sticking to the traditional tourism. However, sports tourism is another area that persons are looking at. St. Kitts also has another very good income stream, which is education tourism. We have lots of Americans come here to offshore universities, especially in human medicine and veterinary medicine. St. Kitts has about four or five veterinary universities, with about 2,000 students, most from the United States, some from Canada, and another source, Nigerians. However, they leave here, they pre-qualify, and then they get access back into the United States quite easily as the reputation of these schools spreads. There are other islands St. Kitts is looking at, too, for medical tourism, where hospitals are thinking of setting up divisions down here. Some of them, like Trinidad, started in open- heart surgery. There’s an Indian group moving into the Turks and Caicos islands with a 2,000-bed hospital to do open-heart surgery for Americans that may have half the costs of mainland U.S. Sports tourism is also very important to us now. BV: So, with the various different kinds of tourism that you pointed out, what improvements in the business climate is that going to provide as all of those grow and mature? CABLE: You find that a number of local persons are diversifying into the allied trades around tourism, other than the crowd vending and so on. They are getting into spas and lots of different types of tours – you’re having mountain-type tours, you’re having different types of safaris, etc. And so, people are coming up with creative ideas, some are getting Caribbean animals into petting zoos and these are sometimes very attractive to families as they come off the ship. So, these are the kinds of areas that are being investigated by many persons. Even some from overseas are coming with these ideas. You might have heard of the zip lines and now these are in the Caribbean, too. BV: Looking ahead five years, what do you want to have happen? What needs to happen to ensure the business climate and the health of the island? CABLE: What needs to happen is that a lot of cognizance needs to be given to regulations. The island government does not have the kind of infrastructure to monitor a lot of the activities that have taken place. And therefore, we need to be ensured that our water supply remains stable, remains high quality and remains sustainable. Sustainable tourism has to be the watch word now, so that in five years time, we do not start to regret overuse of our land resources and marine resources, etc. But the potential is there for it to be a very massive type of expansion, and we could even double or triple the 2,000 or 1,500 rooms that we have on the island at the moment on the two islands. BV: How important is an uptick in cruise tourism? CABLE: It goes up by about 5 percent each year. And we have one jetty here where ships can dock, we take one ship on either side, and we are putting in 6W .LWWV 1HYLV 6HSWHPEHU ‡ 2FWREHU ² &DULEEHDQ ‡ %XVLQHVV 9LHZ Nevis FBO Services Ltd St. Kitts & Nevis V Full service ground handling V Ample aircraft parking V VIP concierge services V Seamless bizjet-to-yacht transfer service V Golf itineries V Limousines and hotels at preferential rates Go from your plane to your yacht the easy way... Nevis - Tel: +1 (869) 469 8828 V Cell:+1 (869) 662 9517 V Fax: +1 (869) 469 8821 St. Kitts - Tel: +1 (869) 466 5576 V Cell:+1 (869) 662 9515 V Fax: +1 (869) 466 9081 Email: nevis@fbo2000.com V Email: stkitts@fbo2000.com V www.fbo2000.com a second, because right now, on some days, we have four cruise ships on the one day, and these are each with about 2,500-3,000 people aboard, and two of them would have to anchor away from the shore and you lose attention. So this second pier has been put in and this could lead to a massive upswing in cruise tourism. BV: How much competition is there between St. Kitts and Nevis and other places? Are you all looking for the same people? CABLE: Yes, we are looking for the same people. There is tremendous competition. However, the point is that, most visitors, once they become attached to one island, they tend to become repeat visitors. In the yachting sector, you’d find that they, too, would want to spend a few days at one destination and move overnight and see another country, almost like a cruise ship. So in that respect, we can be complimentary. However, there is also that area, where some persons would want to leave their yachts in the winter, but the competition for that is down south. Trinidad, for example, never had a hurricane, so it’s becoming considered a very safe haven for yachts. Grenada, which is close by, has it. St. Lucia also has natural harbors. Antigua and St. Maarten, both of those are highly recognized tourism and yachting destinations. So we do have quite a bit of competition around us, but in terms of a blend of sun, sea and sand, with the mountainous climbing, and lots of history and indigenous types, the ex-sugar great houses that have been turned into inns, those appeal to a certain level of clientele and so, we do have some differences that make us unique.