NIA CHARLESTOWN NEVIS (July 17, 2025)-The Nevis Island Administration (NIA) is hailing the 2025 Nevis Mango Festival as an economic success, reporting a marked increase in attendance and local spending over the three-day event.

The flagship event on July 6, ‘For the Love of Mangoes’, drew a significantly larger crowd this year with a total of 4,173 persons attending the event in 2025, compared to 2,536 in 2024, according to ticket and attendance data.

“We are talking about an increase of 1,637 people or 65 percent in terms of attendance. Those are hard numbers. In terms of ticket sales, because we recognize that of course not everyone would have purchased a ticket, we sold over 3,800 tickets for the mango festival this year,” Premier and Minister of Tourism, the Honourable Mark Brantley, reported.

The festival, a vibrant culinary celebration centred around Nevis’ iconic mango, showcased the talents of approximately 50 local chefs, who created an array of mango-infused dishes, drinks, and products.

Beyond the numbers at the festival itself, ferry traffic between St. Kitts and Nevis surged for the weekend, further demonstrating the draw of the event.

“Going to the Mango Festival that we just concluded, July 4 to 6, we had 11,904 crossings back and forth on the boats between St. Kitts and Nevis for the Mango Festival weekend. And of those, 7,719 crossed to and from Oualie and 4,185 crossed to and from Charlestown. We are talking about a spend of almost $400,000 in the weekend just on fares at the ferry,” Premier Brantley revealed.

He noted that the nearly $400,000 in ferry revenue is only part of the story, as the administration continues to assess the broader economic ripple effect across sectors such as hospitality, beauty, transportation, and entertainment.

“We have not yet included our taxis, the makeup artistes, the nail techs, the outfits, we have not yet included any of those things, and of course we have not yet included the tickets to get you into the mango fest, the hotels, the restaurants, the car rentals, and the like,” he stated.

Emphasizing that the economic gains were no accident, Premier Brantley said the outcomes are the result of strategic policymaking.

“I say all that because I think it’s important that our people recognize that these events, these policies that lead to these events aren’t happenstance, they’re not being done in some random fashion, it’s not ‘try a ting’.

“These are policies that are carefully thought out and that are nurtured and developed so that they can pay dividends for our people.”

Premier Brantley also expressed personal pride in the Mango Festival, one of the signature initiatives introduced during his tenure as Minister of Tourism.