London, UK 20th October: More than 30 UK journalists representing consumer, trade and online as well as niches of food, adventure and romance, were wowed at a joint St. Kitts and Nevis media event held last week during the 4th annual Destination St. Kitts & Nevis roadshow.
Contemporary London venue, Vanilla, provided the exclusive setting for media to network and interact with tourism officials, stakeholders and UK representatives, as part of a delegation led by Minister of Tourism for the Federation, the Hon. Lindsay Grant and Minister of Tourism, Nevis, the Hon Mark Brantley.
Key media contacts such as Nigel Tisdall from the UK’s Telegraph Media Group; Peter Swain, golf and travel writer; travel trade writers, Paul Scudamore and Katherine Lawry and a team from Escapism magazine, the UK’s largest new independent travel title, attended pre-arranged one-to-one meetings with partners. They were joined by lifestyle and food journalists and bloggers as well as niche media who also met directly with partners to discuss opportunities in the year ahead.
CEO, Racquel Brown, said “the media event is an important element to the Destination St. Kitts and Nevis roadshow offering our partners a platform to build long-term relationships with the UK media. I hope that all participating partners had successful meetings and will in time leverage satisfactory opportunities from those meetings.”
At the start of the main event, media guests were greeted with St. Kitts and Nevis signature rum cocktails, Ting with a Sting and the famous Killer Bee, prepared especially for the event before a joint welcome by CEO of the St. Kitts Tourism Authority, Racquel Brown and CEO of the Nevis Tourism Authority, Greg Phillip. Both Ministers also addressed the audience following which media were given a fantastic insight into the two destinations via destination videos.
In addition to Tourism Ministers and CEO’s the delegation also included Chairman of the St. Kitts Tourism Authority, Nick Menon; Director of Marketing, Avenice Thompson and special guest, His Excellency Dr. Kevin Isaac, High Commissioner for St. Kitts and Nevis.
Participating partners included from St. Kitts, Ocean Terrace Inn, St. Kitts Marriott, Park Hyatt, Ottley’s Plantation, St. James Travel & Tours and YU Lounge and from Nevis, Montpelier Plantation & Beach, Oualie Beach Resort, Mount Nevis Hotel, Nisbet Plantation & Beach, Four Seasons Resort and Paradise Beach, Nevis.