NEW YORK – Top Saint Lucian hotelier Andrew Barnard believes the island’s North American Road Show series for travel partners is helping to put it on the map, and that with new airlift coming on stream, Saint Lucia is well positioned for bumper business.
The marketing director of Sunswept Resorts – which includes the all-inclusive Body Holiday Le Sport and Rendezvous resorts, has warm feelings about the winter season, in spite of island-wide late booking patterns. “I am actually quite confident about this winter’s bookings – we’re not too far behind last year and I think this last minute trend is really going to push the bookings in,” said Barnard while at the Doubletree Hotel in Tarrytown, New York, last week.
Barnard said that the word from fellow hoteliers on the island echoed his own experience that last minute bookings was now a real and predictable pattern, and so with sustained marketing efforts, business should be strong in the months ahead. “We have much more competitive airfares that are making Saint Lucian packages attractive. With the easy access for the client, convenient days (and) good times from various gateways, it’s going to be a great winter,” he assured.
Tarrytown represents one of Saint Lucia’s most productive US zip codes. “We were so pleased with the strong turnout of agents who exhibited solid interest in our product and our new advertising campaign,” said the New York City-based Lorine St. Jules of the Saint Lucia Tourist Board, who added that response to the new thrice weekly JetBlue service from New York’s JFK airport (starting October 26, 2009) was encouraging.
Caribbean-American travel agent Marcia Bretton of Beaches & Dream Vacations (right) with Lorine St. Jules and Ian Herman of the Saint Lucia Tourist Board in Tarrytown, New York.
This week, the Road Show connects with agents in Delaware, Maryland and Virginia, and moves through Wisconsin, Illinois and Ohio next week.
The tour, which concludes in mid-November, features the destination’s new ad campaign with the theme “Legend Has It,” which highlights the legacy of this unspoiled island destination.
Lorine St. Jules of the Saint Lucia Tourist Board and Andrew Barnard of Sunswept Resorts.
Ian Herman and Odile Devaux of the Saint Lucia Tourist Board in Tarrytown last week.
