NTA official pleased with performance of 2016/17 cruise season so far
Passengers of Prinsendam cruise ship visiting Nevis on November 23, 2016
NIA CHARLESTOWN NEVIS (November 23, 2016) — Chief Executive Officer of the Nevis Tourism Authority (NTA) Greg Phillip expressed satisfaction with the performance of the 2016/17 Cruise Season so far. It commenced on November 01 and will conclude in May 2017.
The NTA official’s comment came in an interview with the Department of Information, on November 24, 2016, on the heels of the visit of Prinsendam, the largest vessel this season and ahead of the third visit of the Azamara Quest with 686 passengers.
“We are quite pleased with the visit of the Prinsendam yesterday. It’s from the Holland American Line and we’re quite pleased to have it because that is really the biggest ship that we have that now comes to Nevis. It carries 835 passengers and obviously yesterday in Charlestown was a buzz of activity…
“It‘s a great way to start because it really puts us at a point where the practitioners in the tourism industry, especially those who cater for cruise, can really and truly feel the impact…Tomorrow, [Friday, November 25] is another big day because the Azamara returns again and that, in itself, is always is a good thing because of the number of cruise passengers who will be in and around Nevis,” he said.
Phillip explained that the types of cruise ships which call on Nevis are a good boost not only for the cruise season but also for the tourism industry in general since the passengers fall into the demographic which the NTA tries to attract.
He said a promising cruise season serves as a stepping stone to get the passengers to return as stay-over visitors.
“Once we get a season like this with a good start, we tend to hope that in the future, those passengers are the ones who eventually come back and stay in the hotels as we’ve seen. So we do plan, however, to do some things actively to help to enhance that.
For now, the season is looking positive so far and we are going to have more cruise passengers this year than we did last year,” Phillip said.
Meantime, two passengers on the Prinsendam, Connie and Bob from Ontario, Canada, described Nevis as beautiful island with wonderful and friendly people.
The couple were at the time returning to the ship to change into dry clothes to come back ashore to visit the artisans’ booths.
Also at the Charlestown Port on November 23, was the Sagitta, a motorsailer of Island Windjammers which makes weekly calls on Nevis with 24 passengers.