The idyllic destination of Anguilla, in the Eastern Caribbean, is being well represented at the Caribbean Hotel and Tourism Association’s (CHTA’s) CaribbeanTravel Marketplace 2012 at Atlantis Resort, on Paradise Island, in the Bahamas, previously known as the CHA’s Caribbean Marketplace, being held for its 30th consecutive year.
For the three day event which started on January 22nd, Anguilla, featured a “full complement” of representative properties and hotel professionals. The Hotel and Resort properties represented at the Caribbean Travel Marketplace included the Arawak Beach Inn, Cuisinart Resort & Spa [recently featured on ‘The Bachelor’], The Viceroy Resort [where celebrities go to play], the [legendary] Cap Juluca Hotel, Paradise Cove [beautiful locally owned hotel in Cove Bay], Carimar Beach Club and also representatives from the Anguilla Tourist Board and the Anguilla Hotel and Tourism Association.
Persons (pictured) representing the Anguilla Government & Tourist Board actively engaging potential buyers: Mary Walker, Director of the North American Office – Anguilla Tourist Board;Shantell Davis, Deputy Director of the Anguilla Tourist Board; Eustace Guishard, Chairman of the Anguilla Tourist Board.
AnguillaNews.com spoke with Mr. Haydn Hughes on day two of the CHTA’s 30th anniversary of the Caribbean Travel Marketplace. Hughes currently serves as a Parliamentary Secretary with responsibility for Tourism for the Government of Anguilla, and also serves on the Trade and Investment Committee responsible for ‘foreign direct investment’ development projects coming to the island.
When asked about the importance of this regional conference to the island of Anguilla, Hughes replied, “It’s extremely important in that we meet a lot of the people who come to Anguilla. We meet the travel writers, we meet the tour operators, and we meet people who are interested but have not heard of Anguilla and now hear of it for the first time – so this is immensely important to get the brand “Anguilla” out there.”
He continued, explaining a bit about Anguilla’s competitive challenge in transport as a destination in the Caribbean region, saying, “As you know Anguilla is a very small place. It does not have the airlift capacity as our neighbour island of St. Maarten/St. Martin, so we piggyback on St. Maarten’s Princess Juliana airport [for persons] to get to Anguilla. Once you get to the Princess Juliana airport, it’s just a twenty minute boat ride, either from the ferry dock at Marigot, St. Martin, or from the dock in Simpson Bay, St. Maarten – or you can take a six minute plane ride from St. Maarten to Anguilla.”
Caribbean Travel Marketplace 2012 has been organized and hosted by:
- The Minister of Tourism for The Islands of the Bahamas
- The Paradise Island Promotion Board
- The Bahamas Hotel Association
- MasterCard International
- Virgin Holidays
- and the Caribbean Hotel and Tourism Association
There are a reported 350 Buyers from 18 Countries present at the 2012 event.
(Source http://www.anguillanews.com/enews/index.php/permalink/4186.html)
