Beautiful Barbados

From http://www.barbadosadvocate.com/NewViewNewsleft.cfm?Record=36771

By Kerrie Bynoe

A hundred travel agents from the United Kingdom dined in fine style last night, during the fourth night of the Gimme 5 and Fly programme put on by the Barbados Tourism Association.

Hosted by the Almond Beach Village, the numerous travel agents that came from Northern Ireland, England and other areas in the UK were treated to dinner on the beach, as they continued to experience what their customers feel when they are booked for a unique vacation in Barbados.

BTA President Stuart Layne, said that the sixth year of the programme has again proven to be a successful one, adding that the UK agents are not only excited about selling Barbados, but they are excited about returning as well. If you have done this well with selling the island without visiting it, now that you have seen it I am hoping that you have done twice as well, maybe three times as well in terms of promoting it, said Layne.

The agents arrived in the island last Friday and have participated in a number of activities including an Island Safari tour, a mini-carnival through St. Lawrence Gap and a breakfast catamaran cruise.

The Barbados Advocate spoke to travel agent Val Brown who was representing One World Travel Agency from Northern Ireland, and he was having a fun time in Barbados while learning more about the island. I will definitely be telling my customers about the beautiful scenery, said Brown, during the Safari we saw a lot of the East Coast and other areas which are really nice, and I would be able to talk a lot about that.

The Irish travel agent went on to say that he would be able to make personal recommendations which he was not able to do before, adding that this was an asset to any agent. It has given us a wider view of the entire island and the hospitality and the type of accommodation that you can get here. The all-inclusive hotel is different than the other all-inclusive deals that we have experienced at other places and it is certainly a tremendous experience, he added.

Brown and a number of the agents praised the BTA for their work, stating that while they have been invited to other countries in the same setting, the effort put in by the BTA outshone the other places.

They actually organised a carnival and we made our suits, closed the road way and we had a big street carnival. It was really good, continued the agent. Chairman of the BTA Ralph Taylor said that enabling the agents to experience the island was something that could boost the number of people coming into Barbados. He said, Many of them love the island and know a lot about it, which makes them the best people to sell the product, because when you can tell your customer about the product in detail then you are the best person to sell it.

Taylor, who is also the Chairman of Almond Hotel said that the hotel is looking to do some major renovations to the Almond Beach Club, adding that some work will also be carried out at the Beach Village in an all over effort to provide a facility that the agents will be proud to sell.