NIA CHARLESTOWN NEVIS (September 02, 2025)– Nevis’ tourism sector continues to show remarkable post-Covid recovery, with record revenues and stronger-than-expected visitor arrivals signaling the island’s firm recovery from the challenges of the Covid-19 pandemic.

At his monthly press conference on August 28, Premier Honourable Mark Brantley, Minister of Tourism and Finance in the Nevis Island Administration (NIA), reported that the industry’s performance has already surpassed last year’s totals and continues to build momentum deep into the summer months, which has traditionally been the ‘slow season’.

“By august we are already ahead of where we were for the entire year in 2024. Our Tourism Development Levy for August runs to $311,951.24. That is an increase of 44.48% over the same period in 2024. I have said that the tourism industry has rebounded quite nicely and what we are seeing is that it’s going deeper into the season… we are already at the level that we earned for the entire year last year. Bearing in mind that we are only eight months into this year. And so that augurs again quite well for us,” the Premier revealed.

During his July monthly press conference the Premier had credited part of this success to the Nevis Island Administration’s prudent fiscal management and close collaboration with stakeholders in the tourism industry. Earlier this year, following consultations with hotel and restaurant owners, the NIA implemented a 1% increase in the Tourism Development Levy, moving it from 2% to 3%. The measure, introduced in June after input from stakeholders, has already yielded significant results.

“Our July collection from that tax…was $412,737.81. When compared to our July collections from last year 2024, we collected $251,564.90. And when compared to our collections in 2023, we collected $211,198.58. And so collecting $412,737.81 this year represents a 95.4% increase over the same period in 2023 and a 64.4% increase over the period in 2024.

“That of course is in part due to the 1% additional, but it’s also due to very high occupancy. In fact, I’m advised that recently… our flagship Four Seasons was at 100% occupancy.”

Premier Brantley praised the efforts of the NIA and tourism stakeholders for helping to strengthen one of the island’s key economic pillars. He noted that even during what has traditionally been regarded as the off-season, Nevis is experiencing unprecedented levels of traffic.

“It means that the post-Covid recovery has continued to be quite strong,” he added.

Nevis is also expanding its luxury tourism brand with enhanced VIP and MICE services at the Nevis Tourism Authority, supported by a targeted marketing approach to attract affluent travelers. These measures, combined with strong partnerships between government and the private sector, are positioning the island as a premier destination in the Caribbean.