St. Kitts is gearing up for a busy tourist season in 2016, with brand-new hotels opening and more cruise ship stops planned.
For the latest installment of Destination St. Kitts, our series featuring travel and tourism on the island, the UMHS Endeavour looks at what St. Kitts has in store for tourists in 2016, based on recent news reports.
Four New Hotels
Four new hotels are scheduled to open soon in St. Kitts, the Canadian website Travelweek reported back in August.
Hotels include the 80-room Koi Resorts (opening February 2016); the Park Hyatt with 134 rooms (opening spring 2016); Embassy Suites (226 rooms) and the Radisson (opening in 2017).
St. Kitts Minister of Tourism, International Trade, Industry and Commerce, Lindsay Grant, told Travelweek that 216 rooms will also be added to existing hotels, with 112 more rooms at Kittitian Hill; 54 at Ocean Terrace Inn; 50 at Royal St. Kitts.
Royal Caribbean Expands Cruise Stops in St. Kitts
The blog for Royal Caribbean reported on expansion of cruise stops in St. Kitts for 2016.
Note the following from the cruise company’s blog:
- Two of Royal Caribbean's biggest cruise ships, Oasis of the Seas and Allure of the Seas, will make scheduled stops in St. Kitts in the 2016 summer season as part of an expanded summer offering to the island.
- Oasis of the Seas will make four stops and five from Allure of the Seas will make five stops next summer.
- Freedom of the Seas, Adventure of the Seas and Independence of the Seas will also make off-season calls in St. Kitts next summer.
- In total, five Royal Caribbean ships will make 51 calls to St. Kitts between May and September 2016, which is up from the 25 calls the cruise line made during the same period in 2015.
“With two Oasis-class ships contributing to an increase in total summer port calls from Royal Caribbean on the whole, the line will be bringing significantly more cruise passengers to our shores next year during what is typically the off-season for cruising in the Caribbean,” St. Kitts Tourism Minister Lindsay Grant told Royal Caribbean. “We anticipate that this will lead to an increase in the amount of money spent in our shops, restaurants, activity providers and other businesses and thereby boost St. Kitts’ local economy. I’m very grateful Royal Caribbean for their expanded partnership, which has been developing over the years.”
St. Kitts is the home of UMHS, one of the leading Caribbean medical schools.
(Top photo) The cruise ship Adventure of the Seas docked in St. Kitts. Photo: Roger W/Wikimedia Commons
About UMHS:
Built in the tradition of the best US universities, the University of Medicine and Health Sciencesfocuses on individual student attention, maintaining small class sizes and recruiting high-quality faculty. We call this unique approach, “personalized medical education,” and it’s what has led to our unprecedented 96% student retention rate, and outstanding residency placements across the US and Canada.
Scott is Director of Digital Content & Alumni Communications Liaison at UMHS and editor of the UMHS Endeavour blog. When he's not writing about UMHS students, faculty, events, public health, alumni and UMHS research, he writes and edits Broadway theater reviews for a website he publishes in New York City, StageZine.com.
