The Anguilla Tourist Board was represented at the 10th anniversary installation of the New York Times Show (NYTS), one of the leading travel expositions for tourism markets in the USA. Held over the weekend of January 18th-20th 2013, the NYTS brought together major tourism suppliers from across the globe to meet with both trade partners and consumers for the purpose of building awareness, sustaining relationships and enhancing business opportunities for the 2013 winter and summer seasons and beyond.
Anguilla was represented by Director of Tourism, Mrs Candis Niles, Anguilla’s Director for North America, Mrs Marie Walker and her team, Amalia Watty and Leticia Young-Mohan, as well as hoteliers, Mr Wilbert Fleming of the Anguilla Great House Beach Resort and Ms. Melissa Rosenfieldof Viceroy Resort & Villas. Also in attendance were Ms. Marvet Britto and Ms. Kerry Hill of the Britto Agency.
According to the Director of Tourism, the 2013 edition of the NYTS was extremely productive. Over
2, 500 consumers visited Anguilla’s booth during the 2 days reserved for the general public, while a significant number of trade partners visited on the first day of the event, taking the opportunity to update their files on developments on the island, as well as to follow up on ongoing travel plans for potential clients.
“Anguilla continues to hold its place within the minds of the consumer and the trade as a luxury sophisticated vacation of choice for discerning travellers in all price ranges. There is considerable interest in Anguilla as a romance, destination wedding and traditional wedding location, possibly due to the perceived qualities of Anguilla as an aspirational, unique vacation experience that one usually associates with once-in-a lifetime memorable experiences.
There is also growing interest in Anguilla as a culinary destination, with a number of writers expressing their interest in developing this angle for traditional print and social media (blogging)
While there were still visitors to the Anguilla booth who indicated that they had never before heard of the island, a significant number of visitors indicated that they had just returned from the island, were planning a trip in the next six months or had learned about Anguilla and were aspiring to travel there one day.
A number of leads were generated through the organization of a daily prize drawing in conjunction with Anguilla’s industry partners, Anguilla Great House Beach Resort, Viceroy Resort and Villas, Cuisinart Golf Resort and Spa, Carimar Beach Club, Paradise Cove Resort, Cap Juluca Hotel & Anacaona Boutique Hotel.
A VIP Sweepstakes was also promoted at the show to highlight the upcoming Moonsplash Music Festival, of which the ATB is a sponsor. Leads were also captured electronically through smart phone technology and will be used to build the on-island database for sharing with industry partners.
The show continues to hold value for the destination as it offers the opportunity to interface with trade & consumer, two equally important segments of the marketing mix, as well as to meet with members of the media intent on sourcing opportunities to provide coverage for the destination.
