The Marina at Christophe Harbour is anticipating a busy finish for 2017 in yachting berths and unprecedented numbers in 2018 which is a good fit for the Federation’s tourism strategy of bringing super yachts along with the super rich to St.Kitts.
So reports in the local newspaper say
Jon Gersonde Vice President of Operations at Christophe Harbour speaking at a media briefing this week indicated that they currently have five boats at The Marina and are expecting to have at least three more by Friday.
Gersonde indicated that there is a great deal of interest in the Federation and following his recent trip to Antigua for a boat show, there are plenty of yachting interest in the Federation.
“I was just in Antigua for a boat show last week and there was almost 80 super yachts there for the show and the amount of people that were on the docks speaking about the Federation, speaking about St. Kitts and the interest in coming here.”
He added that these yachts will make their way to the Federation at some point and it will be up to the individuals on the ground to leave an impression on those visitors in that new market.
“Many of these yachts that are on their way or are here have never been here before. There is such an opportunity here for us in the Federation to put our best foot forward to say please come and see what St. Kitts is all about.”
The Christophe Harbour executive indicated that it was encouraging to hear the amount of people in Antigua talking about St. Kitts.
“So many of these boats change their plans all the time. We had a boat arrive this morning that we had no idea until early this morning that they were even going to come here.”
Gersonde also noted that 2018 the yachting sector at The Marina is set to take off and is anticipating calls from over 80 super yachts.
In 2018 our estimation is about 80 super yachts with well over 500 people. We have five boats on dock and it expected to go to eight to ten by the end of the week. If these boats are on charter they could have up to 12 guest on them and some of the crew on some of these boats could have up to 25. He explained the boats bring with them a lot to the Federation including income.
The Marina at Christophe Harbour opened in 2015 and was built with the yachtsman in mind. The marina consist of 250 alongside berths, 50 of which will be able to accommodate super yachts up to 76 metres.
The Marina also features a protected entrance, safe inner harbour. The location is also beneficial for yachters being situated between Antigua and St. Maarten in the heart of the Eastern Caribbean charter and cruising grounds make Christophe Harbour a jump-off point for island hopping.
In November the Minister of Tourism launched a five year Yachting Sector Strategic Plan that is expected to have significant economic impacts in the Federation.
Tourism Minister Lindsay Grant noted that the potential for exposure for St. Kitts and Nevis is enormous as it will translate to economic spin offs that will pay dividends local entrepreneurs