News from Barbados as of
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Barbados looks to South American market
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| Published on Saturday, October 31, 2009 | Email To Friend Print Version
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BRIDGETOWN, Barbadao (BGIS) -- The Barbados Tourism Authority (BTA) has surged on with positioning Barbados as a visible player within the South American tourism landscape as it sent forward a delegation to the recently concluded Fair of the Americas or ABAV Trade Show in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, which ran from October 21 to 23, 2009.
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| Andrea Franklin |
With promising opportunities to generate traffic from South America to Barbados for 2010, the BTA delegation, lead by Andrea Franklin, manager product integration, BTA, set out primarily to bring awareness to the destination and network with key industry personnel.
Franklin emphasized that awareness amongst Brazilian industry partners and counterparts was crucial to stimulating market share for Barbados as a destination within the South American population.
“We aimed to create interest in the destination, which is in keeping with the government and BTA’s thrust to pursue the South American market. Barbados generated keen interest amongst tour operators and travel agents who all expressed great excitement about the prospects of Barbados coming back into the market. More than 500 travel agents and tour operators frequented the booth.”
The exhibit was strategically interconnected with plans to increase airlift from the continent, namely with the introduction of services from main Brazilian gateways to Barbados, on which negotiations are ongoing.
Another possibility in pursuing Brazil as a source market is the opportunity to integrate some of Barbados’ niche products.
“Brazil is known for its tremendous beach culture and although many cities in Brazil, like Rio de Janeiro have world renowned beaches, Brazilians tend to still travel for the beach. They are also huge sports enthusiasts.”
The fair, which is not opened to the public, saw roughly 27,000 industry professionals from across South America, whose primary objectives are to secure business opportunities and commercial alliances.
Over 1,000 exhibitors were present, including airline companies, hotel networks, travel operators, cruise operators, tourist transport operators, theme parks, and national and international destinations just to name a few.
As a first time exhibitor at the event, Barbados benefited from the fact that the event stands as the largest annual travel trade fair of its kind in North and South America. | | | | Reads : 736 | | | |
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