n Throughout WTM Aruba will be inviting travel agents to visit the island as part of its Aruba Travel Agent Month 2000 programme. Travel Agent Month 1999 offered agents six nights’ accommodation in some of the island’s best hotels and the use of a number of the facilities for $150.
n The Cayman Islands is using WTM to highlight its Cayman Islands Special Agents training scheme, being reintroduced in the New Year.
Cuba’s World Travel Market delegation has arrived early, and will spend the week before the show meeting with representatives from the Federation of Tour Operators to discuss health and safety issues.
There has been concern over the standards in some Cuban properties since a hotel-building boom started there three years ago in response to huge interest from UK and Europe markets.
Action programmes and co-operation projects designed to overcome any future problems will be discussed with FTO members.
The Cuban stand will have representatives from a number of the island’s hotel companies and ground handlers, including Gran Caribe, Cubanacan, Sol Melia and Horizontes. Details of the island’s latest visitor figures and a number of new developments will also be available.
The Cuban tourist board will also be releasing the results of a recent survey which shows that 28% of visitors to Cuba spend time in Havana and its other cities, while 64% stay in beach resorts.
The remaining 8% take part in special interests, which include sailing, camping, rural spas and health centres.
There will also be news of Cuba’s latest advertising campaign, which will appear in a variety of national and regional newspapers.
The four advertisements focus on the Cuban people themselves, under the slogan ‘The feel good factor’.
The Dominican Republic
A top-level delegation from the Dominican Republic will attend World Travel Market this year with the confident message that its UK arrivals look set to increase over the coming months.
A UK promotional campaign is set for early 2000 after recent figures showed arrivals to the country had halved within a year.
UK visitors between January and June totalled 46,300, a sharp fall on the 91,100 figure for the same period last year.
UK director of the Dominican Republic Tourist Board, Rocio Rossi said: “Our poor summer figures are a hangover from last year’s bad press following Hurricane George and hygiene scares.
“In recent months, the British food management company Cristel has been very successful in working alongside hoteliers to improve and maintain standards and we are now beginning to see the result of their efforts,” she added.
The promotional campaign will feature destination-specific advertising, plus joint activities with operators.
The slogan ‘Come share our treasures’, which is already used in US promotions, will also be adopted in the UK.
With this new programme of activities, and with UK visitor figures for winter 1999 already up a steady 9%, Rossi is confident that the Dominican Republic will gradually overcome its past image problems and consolidate its share of the long-haul market.
“I will be very happy to get a steady year-on-year increase. I look forward to seeing a renewed optimism in the Dominican Republic as the Caribbean’s foremost tourist destination,” she said.
n St Kitts is due to make an increase to the number of agents’ educationals to the island for 2000. Retail staff will also be given the opportunity to gain one of the six fam trip places during the week of WTM.
n Throughout WTM the Jamaica TouristBoard will be offering agents, who haveplayed a part in its Jamaica Travel Specialist programme, the opportunity to talk with some of the members of the Jamaican WTM contingent. The contingent comprises of some 33 hoteliers and ground handlers.
Cancun
The UK is the third largest market for Cancun after the US and Canada. The total number of Britons that visited the island last year was 65,144, an increase of 17.7%.
The level of UK arrivals has increased steadily over the last three years, thanks to increased air capacity and competitive pricing.
The Cancun Visitors Bureau expects this high rate of growth to continue.
Leading this year’s World Travel Market delegation are the president of the Office of Visitors and Conventions of Cancun Borges Martin, and Nancy Bastida from the Hotel Association of Quintana Roo.
Representatives from a whole host of companies, including Olympus Tours, Imperial Hotels & Resorts Cancun, Caesar Park, Club Verano Beat and Royale Tours will also be joining them at the stand.
Martin will have news of Cancun’s new training initiative, ‘Viva Hospitalidad’. The initiative aims to increase Cancun’s tourist appeal through a high-quality service.
The innovative programme, made up from 150 schemes, is directed at the 5,000 professionals from the tourist resort who are in direct or indirect contact with visitors.
Cristina Gargallo from the Cancun Visitors Bureau’s UK office is organising a full agenda of meetings to be held between UK tour operators and travel agents who are interested in meeting representatives from Cancun.
She can be contacted on 020-8994 7712 or e-mail: cgargallo@thr-uk.freeserve.co.uk