(SKNIS): The Ministry of Tourism today launched its new website that promises to be one that is innovative and technology friendly, says the Minister of Tourism, Honourable Lindsay Grant, speaking at the launching ceremony on September 28 at the St. Kitts Marriott Resort.
“Today is a signal moment in the history of not only the Ministry of Tourism, but the St. Kitts Tourism Authority because we have to ensure that our industry, which is very fickle as you can recognize, that we plan strategically for the future,” said Minister Grant.
Stemming from the award winning previous website, this website is expected to outdo the last, said the minister, while noting that the previous website was only designed for desktops.
“Today as we would recognize it’s more now the mobile phones,” he said. “So, this website has been created to ensure that it is not only mobile friendly, but the premier platform from which it should revolve is the mobile phones.”
The content on the website is everything, says Minister Grant, as it boasts strong large images and engaging content about St. Kitts.
“This should be and will be the hallmark of our site that we are trying to engage. It will have itineraries, promotions, all that would enhance the visitor experience,” said the minister.
Minister Grant made it known that the content on the website is a collective effort.
“Obviously we cannot do it alone; this is not the St. Kitts Tourism Authority’s website, it’s not the Ministry of Tourism’s website, it is our website, collectively and so the pluses and the minuses of the website are ours collectively. So, if it doesn’t suit you, if it doesn’t meet up to your standards, we would have failed.”
Stakeholders from the private sector were urged to aggressively engage the website so that is serves its intended purpose.
“We all obviously have a role to play in making this website work and obviously we need your content,” said the minister. “We expect that if the content as we have it today doesn’t meet your benchmark, you would at least give us more content for us to be able to engage the outside world with the content which you have given us.”
One of the primary roles and goals of the website is to drive leads to the stakeholders’ websites.
“We want you to make money from our website,” explained Minister Grant. “We want to make sure that the website we have given you is going to drive traffic to your website. Obviously you are going to [make sure] the content, when we drive the business to your website, it’s what you want to deliver to the people.”
The tourism minister said that the website represents a great and exciting partnership between the public and the private sector.
“[This is] a relationship I believe that you will benefit from and I should say at this juncture that this is what we want,” he said. “We want to have an engaging relationship with the private sector because at the end of the day we are here only because you are there. If you are not here, we would not only be obsolete, but we would be nonexistent and so we thrive on your success and we fall down on your failures. So, we expect that you are the driving force behind this industry and we are only the regulators who are here to guide the process and policies etc. [However], at the end of the day, this industry tourism, rises or falls on you.”
Features of the new website will include a more interactive and user-friendly experience for visitors, a user account with personalized login info for stakeholders who will now have full control of updating their content and photography, which will give them the opportunity to promote their business via their “personal touch.”
The official website can be found at www.stkittstourism.kn.