Published: Wednesday 22 November, 2017
By Dr. Kelvin Daly
Charlestown, Nevis, (NRP) – More than 90% of the raw natural beauty of Nevis goes unseen by visitors and I dare say by most Nevisians also. Visitors often complain that there is not enough to do on an island tour! It is a fact that beyond the Island Main Road lies a lush tropical forest that sweeps upwards to the majestic and irrepressible Mount Nevis. On the southeast Atlantic coast lies an arid landscape, eerie and otherworldly, it morphs into scrub-lands all the way to Saddle Hill and beyond. An adventurous few have scaled cliff faces to get a peek at the water falls at Butler’s Mountain which lies on the northern flank of Nevis Peak. Few others can boast of their conquest of the Source which is buried deep into the mountain. As a Boys Brigader, I too can boast of not only getting to the summit of Mount Nevis but overnighting there. I can still feel the cold in my bones.
I have travelled throughout the Caribbean and I marvel at how effectively those islands have keyed into what tourist like. Beyond the surf, sea, sand and Duty Free shopping, they love history and historical sites, they love all things nature, they love sweeping vistas, they love to float over and through virgin rain forests filled with exotic plants and animals. Visitors want to see how pottery is made, how hammon is distilled and how it tastes, they want to soak their tired and aching feet in natural hot springs and stand next to or under a cascading waterfall. Nevis has these and more. Where we continue to fail is in the development of the product to provide activities to engage our visitors and entice them to return with friends.
There is an awful lot of chatter from our Minister of Tourism, the Hon. Mark Brantley about developing tourism. He however deals with tourism in an abstract way as if one can separate the visitor from the experience they get when they do come. This explains the paucity of initiatives during his troubled tenure as Minister. Tourism is by far our most important revenue earner and as such deserves laser focused attention. The more that sector grows, the more diverse and plentiful jobs and business opportunities will become for the long suffering people of Nevis. We are in a fierce competition with not only regional players but powerful international ones as well. In Panama, St. Lucia and Jamaica, visitors are treated to aerial tours through the rain forest canopy. In St. Thomas, cable cars whisks you to an 800 ft. perch overlooking Charlotte Amalie. From Brazil to NY and London, sky trams enhance the visitor experience.
It is in this vein that the NRP intends to explore the viability of sky trams in limited areas. Of interest is a sky tram to be built in New River which would take passengers up and over the picturesque New River Valley and Butlers Mountain with strategic rest stops in between. This development will auger well with the Cruise Terminal Development that the Hon E. Robelto Hector has proposed. Imagine the possibilities when your imagination soars. Sugar Train in St. Kitts and Sky Tram in beautiful Nevis.
NRP for ALL the people. Vote responsibly. Vote NRP.
