Small Caribbean Island Extends Runway For High-End Travelers

Nevis is building a first-class gateway to its next chapter, creating major opportunities in aviation, hospitality, and investment. The significance is that Nevis can accommodate the aircraft used by the people it may want to attract.  With an extended 6,000 ft (1830 mtr) runway, the island puts itself firmly into the serious private- and business-aviation category. Besides the substantial bizav capability, it provides access to smaller commercial airline jets as well as regional turboprops like ATRs.

The actual construction started about a week ago. The airport expansion also foresees an apron capable of accommodating up to 50 executive jets. It will make the handling of very valuable visitors exceptionally well. The Nevis Island Administration (NIA) has repeatedly described the strategy as attracting private jets and high-value, longer-staying visitors, supported by private-jet facilities, hangars, parking, fueling, maintenance and a first-class FBO.

Why does a small island need room for 50 Private Jets? The answer may have little to do with aircraft. Nevis could become the Eastern Caribbean's discreet high-value destination also for foreign investment. Its airport opens a particularly interesting investment window.

Nevis proposition deserves the attention of investors.  Nevis has no personal income tax, and its investment framework already provides various tax holidays and fiscal concessions. The Nevis Investment Promotion Agency (NIPA) says that qualified companies can receive corporate-tax exemptions, while its current incentives framework includes income-tax holidays and import/VAT concessions for qualifying projects.

The airport may therefore be more than a transportation project. It could become the front door to a proposition for a strategic investment. What kind of investment would Nevis consider important enough to make an exceptional incentive package worthwhile? An open invitation to think bigger and what an imaginative investor might see that others have not yet seen.

Nevis has a stated ambition to become a film-production destination, and the island already has evidence that the concept can generate local economic activity. Film production can behave differently from conventional tourism: a production brings an entire temporary economic ecosystem to the island.

For Nevis, the more interesting proposition would be a Caribbean Film Production Campus. 

An investor could make Nevis the Caribbean's easiest place to make a film. The investor doesn't necessarily have to make the movies. The investor owns the infrastructure parts that the movies need. Not a Hollywood studio. The island itself is the film décor and scenery; it comes virtually for free. The investor will get his ROI from providing production services, accommodation, equipment, training, post-production, etc.

Nevis has already had productions distributed internationally, including “A Week in Paradise” and “Christmas in the Caribbean”. The existing evidence suggests Nevis has demonstrated the proof of concept; the next question is whether island and investor can turn that proof of concept into a commercially sustainable industry rather than a succession of individual film projects. Nevis offers incentives including hospitality grants, subsidies for filming in public spaces and location-scout incentives. 

A film-production industry would create another reason for: private aviation + executive travel + specialist equipment movement + production crews + high-value visitors. A film producer may arrive with director, principal actors, production executives, camera equipment, specialist technicians, etc.

Nevis appears to be pursuing positioning the airport as a "first-class private jet and regional airport facility" to compete in the high-end visitor market. That fits the character of Nevis: relatively small, upscale, resort-oriented and with a tourism product that can appeal to affluent travelers.

Film can have a surprisingly effective way of attracting high-end/high-net-worth visitors, then film can be it. Not simply because a film studio exists. The attraction comes from creating an ecosystem where celebrity, privacy, luxury and production overlap. Some of these people don't leave immediately when filming ends. They discover the island as a private, relatively discreet luxury destination. So, a film-production ecosystem can help justify investment in high-end supporting infrastructure.

It is much easier to keep a celebrity relatively anonymous on a small island with limited nightlife spectacle and fewer mass-tourism attractions. Nevis is only about 36 square miles and 13,500 people, and the government explicitly identifies its small scale and personal character as an advantage. Not the Caribbean's biggest luxury destination. The Caribbean's private one. 

Nevis is characterized as real, authentic, private, and quietly happy to be its own self. Not flashy, not crowded, no traffic lights, no big-box stores or chain eateries. The island is described as combining natural beauty, rich history and understated luxury.

The airport expansion may become part of a luxury-product strategy rather than merely an infrastructure project. The international affluent traveler is already bombarded with messages of luxury destinations. They have already experienced conventional luxury and now want something different. They're looking for a place that they don't want just anyone else to discover. That is why Nevis is an island that UHNW leisure visitors are longing for.