Antigua beach voted No. 1 in the Caribbean

Dickenson Bay in Antigua

Thursday, November 13, 2003

LONDON, England: Dickenson Bay in Antigua has been rated the best beach in the Caribbean by the Sunday Mirror, a widely read British newspaper

The day before the world's largest tourism exhibition opened in London, the Sunday Mirror, with a readership of tens of millions of people, ranked Dickenson Bay in Antigua with five stars as against four and three stars from beaches in Barbados, Jamaica, St Lucia and the Dominican Republic.

The newspaper ranked Dickenson Bay as number one, against Negril in Jamaica, Reduit in St Lucia, Playa Dorada in the Dominican Republic and Carlisle Bay in Barbados. 

Experts from the University of Glamorgan, commissioned by the newspaper, asked 1,000 Britons what they wanted for a seaside holiday. The Sunday Mirror reported, "They said the beach should be safe, have dramatic scenery, no huge tides, no litter and clear sparkling water".

According to the Sunday Mirror report, the newspaper then added some criteria of its own. These included: family-friendly beach bars, lots of shade and safe water sports.

On this basis, the newspaper combed the Caribbean and came up with five top Caribbean beaches. They then rated Dickenson Bay in Antigua as the best giving it five stars.

Antigua and Barbuda's High Commissioner to London, Sir Ronald Sanders, commented, "This is great news for Antigua as World Travel Market opens in London today with literally thousands of travel agents from all over Europe in attendance. The newspaper rating will certainly boost interest in Antigua and Barbuda as a desirable destination."

Over the last six weeks, the Antigua office in London has run a successful advertising campaign on Jazz FM Radio in London and the South-East of England as well as in selected newspapers.

"We ran the campaign in the run-up to the World Travel Market to imprint Antigua on the minds of the millions of potential tourists who will visit the Exhibition. The Sunday Mirror has topped this off nicely", Sir Ronald said. 

Over this winter period there will be 16 flights per week into Antigua directly from London bringing over 3,500 tourists every week. This is the greatest number of direct flights into Antigua from any country in the history of the Island's tourism.

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