Jermaine Sharpe, DOT’s Tourism Services Officer, currently on secondment in London, represented the Cayman Islands at the London Dive Show in March.

DOT’s Marketing Representative in Canada, Sharon Lohr is pictured at the Cruise & Luxury Travel Expo in Toronto in February.

Personnel of the Department of Tourism (DOT) attended over 100 consumer and trade shows in three international markets in the first quarter of 2006.

The DOT said the heavy focus on the shows is aiming to “significantly increase” visitor arrivals to the Cayman Islands. 

Beginning in January, Tourism Minister Hon Charles Clifford led a delegation of public and private sector officials to the Caribbean Marketplace in Puerto Rico for meetings with airline and wholesaler partners.

The Cayman delegation included representatives from the DOT, Cayman Airways, Westin Casuarina Resort, Courtyard by Marriott, Tropicana Tours and The Reef Resort.

In Rosemount, Illinois, just outside of Chicago, the DOT joined forces with Cayman Airways, Boatswain’s Beach and the Divi Tiara Beach Resort to promote adventure tourism in the Cayman Islands at the Adventures in Travel Expo.

The show is part of the world’s largest series of events for adventure, active travel, eco, nature, cultural and outdoor tourism with over 10,000 attendees – both trade professionals and enthusiastic consumers – on hand to learn about exciting new vacation opportunities. 

In Toronto, Cayman’s new and improved “luxury” product was showcased at the Cruise & Luxury Travel Expo, where the recently opened Ritz-Carlton, Grand Cayman, the newly refurbished Grand Cayman Marriott Beach Resort, the Hyatt Regency Beach Suites, and  condominiums and attractions were highlighted.

The Cayman Islands saw significant activity in Europe with BOOT, a consumer dive show in Dusseldorf, Germany, which attracts divers from continental Europe; and the Dublin Holiday Show in Ireland.

A consumer and trade event, the Dublin Holiday Show supported the DOT’s goal of achieving maximum awareness for the Cayman Islands in the Irish market.

In February,  the third annual NY Times Travel Show saw the Cayman Islands joining over 500 exhibitors and sponsors,  consisting of Tourism Boards, Travel Companies, Spas, Accommodations and Cruise Lines,  reaching 25,000 avid travellers and travel professionals through integrated promotional programmes.

Taking advantage of the Canadian winters, the DOT attended the Outdoor Adventure Show (Scuba World) in Toronto, showcasing the Islands as a premier destination for scuba diving, snorkelling, soft adventure and nature tourism with a strong emphasis on the diversity of adventure to be found on all three Islands.

Estimated attendance was 29,000, drawn from the Greater Toronto area and S.W. Ontario.

Other show highlights in February included London’s leading consumer travel show, Destinations, which coincided with the Department of Tourism’s radio consumer advertising campaign and holiday promotion.

In March,  the ITB Berlin, held in Germany, saw the Cayman Islands represented at its own stand within the Caribbean Tourism Organisation pavilion of this leading European travel industry business-to-business (B2B) event.

Immediately following ITB, the BIWI Pow Wow travel industry B2B event was held in London, providing an extremely cost effective forum for approximately 80 buyers to meet with UK-based Caribbean service providers on a one to one basis.

DOT Europe is currently working with CTO Europe to encourage BIWI to develop similar events in both Central and Southern Europe.

The UK office also joined forces with the leading Italian dive tour operator Aquatours to exhibit at the EUDI consumer dive show in Genoa, Italy, the largest and most popular dive event in Italy.

Director of Tourism Pilar Bush has been commenting on the shows attended by her office.

“The Department of Tourism’s sales team is on the ground in three international locations showcasing the Cayman Islands to the travel trade and consumers on a daily basis.

“We analyse our show schedule rigorously ensuring that the shows we attend will provide the highest possible return on investment.

“The fact that the Hon. Minister attends our major shows, whenever his schedule allows, translates his words of support into visible actions  and this commitment is not missed by our travel partners, nor by the travel media who attend these events.”