Barbados Makes Big Impression at World Travel Market 2016 with 50th Anniversary theme
LONDON – World Travel Market 2016 has proved to be a storming success for Barbados thanks to the hard work and inspiration of Barbados Tourism Marketing Inc and partners.
The Barbados 2016 delegation was led by The Hon. Richard Sealy, Minister of Tourism and International Transport, Barbados along with His Excellency Mr Guy Hewitt, Chairman, Alvin Jemmott, Mr William ‘Billy’ Griffith, CEO of BTMI, Cheryl Carter, UK director for BTMI and Roseanne Myers, Chairman of the Barbados Hotel and Tourism Association.
This year, the BTMI stand was themed around Barbados’ affinity to sport and was a tribute to Kensington Oval, to demonstrate the incredible contribution the island has made to international sport – not least of all – cricket.
The stand was not only impactful echoing the pride and passion shared by all Bajans and partners at World Travel Market but also echoed the glorious year of 2016 – which saw the island celebrate 50 years of independence.
To bring the theme of Legends and Legacy to life, the BTMI stand was also home to some of the greatest sporting and music legends who have ever lived including Sir Garfield ‘Garry’ Sobers, Gordon Greenidge and Desmond Haynes as well as SOCA music stars Red Plastic Bag and The Mighty Gabby.
The theme of 2017 for the island will be the Year of Sport and Barbados will be opening our eyes to a wealth of sporting activities available on island including amazing biking, cricket, football, hiking and running trails, sequeway polo and of course world class water sports.
Speaking from a busy BTMI stand Billy Griffith, CEO of the BTMI commented, “World Travel Market remains the signature trade event, providing the ideal forum for good, solid business discussions and negotiations for future contracts for 2017 and beyond. 2017 is an important year for Barbados as we move on from a tremendous year of celebrations surrounding our 50 years of independence. We look forward with great anticipation for an even more successful year next year and know that along with our partners, we will achieve outstanding results. We are very pleased to see that there have been more Barbadian partners this year, including hotels, attractions and ancillary services. We are very appreciative of the tremendous support that the industry has shown us over the past year and look forward to working with our partners moving forward with even more alliances made in the coming months”
Cheryl Carter, UK Director of BTMI added, “For the last three years the UK has remained the biggest tourism market to Barbados and continues to grow despite recent challenges. We expect the visitor arrivals to the island, to increase further and we look forward to working with all our partners – established and new.”
