Four Member Team represents BVI at World Travel Market
~~Adz:Right~~ Roadtown, Tortola - A four member team is representing the Territory at this week’s World Travel Market which got underway in London yesterday.
The four-day event, which ends on Thursday, is a major networking and business event for travel industry officials staged annually.
Speaking as a guest on the GIS Radio Report, Acting Director of Tourism Ms. Hadassah Ward said the BVI delegation will be engaged in competitive research. “We are taking a team of four to basically scout and pull in as much info to bring back to the tourism industry here as well as to our tourism offices so that our work plan for 2009 is complete.”
Ms. Ward described the World Travel Market as “a great place to see what everybody is doing, how people are representing themselves, how people are marketing, what is in, what new hotels are being built, where people are getting investment from.”
While the World Travel Market provides huge opportunities for business and networking, Ms. Ward said it is a very expensive show, a factor that negatively affects the Territory’s participation.
However, she quickly added “we have come back with a blast this year because we need to be shouting a bit more, to draw more attention to ourselves and let people know that we are still here; we are still doing great tourism in BVI.”
According to the tourism official, “it is essential that the message gets out that the BVI is open for business and that we are still one of the best destinations in the Caribbean, if not in the world.”
Reflecting on the economic downturn in the United States, its ripple effects around the world and the potential impact of this on the tourism industry, Ms. Ward stated emphatically that it cannot be business as usual. “We can no longer expect that the BVI being a beautiful destination, being a beautiful sailing destination, having great hospitality is going to suffice.”
She added that it is essential to “remember that we are in a state of financial crisis and this crisis is far-reaching in that the consumers are holding on to their dollars much tighter. We are competing for those dollars and we have to do so much more creatively than we have been able to do.”
Ms. Ward pointed to the need for a lot more targeted advertising, the aim of which will be to focus the efforts of the BVI Tourist Board “so that we are coming hard, we are coming with quality, in a way that is appropriate and in a way that ensures the BVI is the tourism destination of 2009 to 2099.”
The other members of the delegation attending the World Travel Market are
Marine/Online Specialist Ms. Abigail O’Neal, Emerging Markets and Niche Marketing Manager Ms. Lynette Harrigan and Ms. Perla George, who is the General Manager of North America, Sales.
Tourism is one of the primary economic pillars of the Virgin Islands (UK) and Government stands committed to promoting it and ensuring its survival. It is the vision of this administration that the tourism sector will maintain its leadership position as a diverse, upscale niche market destination while at the same time maintaining environmental sustainability, social and cultural balance.
