Tourism hurt by closure of Four Seasons in Nevis

The closure of the Four Seasons Resort in Nevis is being seen as a blow to tourism in St Kitts and Nevis.

Four Seasons Resort Nevis is currently closed until April 30, as a result of the impact of Hurricane Omar which hit the island last October.

Federal Minister of State for Tourism, Senator Richard Skerrit said the closure will “hurt the federation in several ways”, including resulting in fewer visitors on the ground spending.

He told BBC Caribbean that the twin-island federation would also be affected because a percentage of the visitors were arriving on international airlift that the government had contracted with airlines like British Airways to supply.

Senator Skerrit said it might now be a little more difficult to fill seats, adding that it “puts the airlift arrangement at a bit more of a risk”.

Four Seasons, seen as a major employer in Nevis, suffered damage from Hurricane during last year’s transatlantic hurricane season.

American Airlines operates a daily flight from Miami and a twice weekly flight from New York into the Robert L Bradshaw International Airport. Delta airlines operates a weekly flight from Atlanta and US Airways weekly flights from Charlotte and Philadelphia. American Eagle operates a daily flight from San Juan, Puerto Rico and the regional carrier, LIAT and L. Bradshaw WINAIR also operate several flights daily to the international airport in St Kitts and the Vance W Amory International Airport on Nevis.

British Airways commences a weekly flight from London-Gatwick from Saturday.