Music festival boosts Thrifty car rentals

A major annual music festival organized in Basseterre, St. Kitts, has given a major boost to the local car rental industry. In most cases, car hire companies are finding that just about all of their cars are booked, due to the influx of visitors. Vincent Gumbs, who manages the local Thrifty Car Rental location, for example, noted that he no longer had any vehicles left to rent, as they have been booked for the duration of the festival. Normally, Thrifty offers 78 vehicles for rent, but due to the dramatically increased demand, Gumbs had little choice but to bring in extra cars from other locations in order to satisfy renters. Thrifty’s local fleet now stands at 87 passenger vehicles.

Thrifty will not be sending back the extra cars anytime soon, however, as the number of visitors is expected to stay significantly higher than usual, as the Cricket World Cup fast approaches. Additionally, Thrifty already anticipates that it may actually have to bring in more cars from nearby Nevis in order to deal with booming demand.

Other car rental firms have also confirmed that the music festival has served as a real boost for the local car hire market. IAS Car Rentals, for example, has seen demand increase exponentially and the company’s owner, Seymour Williams, noted that the festival has been “wonderful” for his firm. As an added benefit, many visitors are coming for both the music festival, as well as the cricket tournament, which means that they are renting for an extended period of time.

http://www.thrifty.com/