THE NEVIS Department of Tourism has opened a London office in a bid to raise the island’s profile with the UK travel trade.
Director Rattan Kotwal said he wanted to focus on promoting the Caribbean destination to tour operators and travel agents before turning his attention to consumers.
“We are concentrating on tour operators to start with because they are the ones who will package the product,” he said. “We will expand activities to cover consumers from the beginning of 2000. We don’t have an advertising budget yet, but between now and the end of the year we have £25,000 to spend on public relations and on helping the trade.”
Kotwal plans to stress the ways in which the 36sq mile island differs from other Caribbean islands in talks with operators.
He will highlight the lack of humidity, attractions such as the 3,500ft high Nevis Peak and the opportunities for soft-adventure activities such as rainforest walks and mountain biking.
“It is an unspoiled destination that is not commercialised and not mass market,”he said.
Nevis has a hotel capacity of 630 rooms, which can accommodate up to 1,000 people at one time.
In 1998, arrivals by air totalled nearly 32,700, of which 2,900 came from the UK. UK figures for 1999 are not yet available. However, Kotwal said he was aiming for a 15% increase in 2000.
The new London office has a staff of three including Kotwal, who was regional director of the Government of India Tourist Office between 1987 and 1995. He then acted as a tourism adviser to the Nevis government for six months under a scheme funded by the Commonwealth Secretariat in London.
The Nevis Tourist Office in the UK will be run by Kotwal’s travel marketing consultancy, Fulcrum London.
n The Nevis Tourist Office can be contacted at PO Box 160, Edgware, London HA8 5YB. Telephone 020-8200 3020.