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Newsletter 50 -

1st March 2016




 

Advancing Hospitality through Tourism Alliances
Darkwood beach c 1971

Antiguan Dream

With lush views and clear water, Antigua is a prototypical island paradise. However, it also has a unique culture all its own

- See more at: http://www.lipulse.com/trends/article/antiguan-dream#sthash.jmTT3ekQ.dpuf
AHTA News
Air arrivals to Antigua & Barbuda up 14% reflecting strong demand for the destination

Visitor arrivals by air to Antigua and Barbuda grew by 14% in 2016 compared to the same period in 2015. Tourism Officials welcome the news of double-digit growth, which represent 26,928 passengers who arrived in the twin-island nation by air.
Minister of Tourism, The Hon. Asot Michael expressed pleasure with the latest arrival statistics.
“The strong performance we experienced in November and December as we closed off 2015 is continuing into 2016,” said the Tourism Minister.
"Growth was recorded in our two largest, major source markets and it is clear that our strategic tourism plan is returning positive results in a big way.
“We have increased airlift to the destination, made enhancements to the product, strategically looked at our hotel operations and room stock, and intensified our sales and marketing efforts. The growth now, speaks volumes of the extremely hard work put in by our teams and industry partners,” said Minister Michael. Full story here.
For full details of January's arrivals click here
Tourism Education the focus of bi-lateral relations between Antigua and Barbuda and Cyprus
High Commissioner of the Republic of Cyprus in New York Vasilios Philippou recently paid a courtesy call on Minister of Tourism, Economic Development, Investment and Energy the Hon. Asot Michael where he presented his credentials and held talks surrounding possible areas of collaboration between the two countries.
Ambassador Philippou highlighted the key areas of the tourism industry in Cyprus to Minister Michael stating that the industry which accounts for more than 50% of his country’s gross domestic product is centered on niche areas such as medicine, golf, conference and religious tourism. Full story here
Training Update
 
Social Media Marketing for Tourism
The use of Social media has become an integral part of any marketing campaign. On April 4th we are an offering a full day workshop facilitated by Adriana Serna, Director of Communications for the Caribbean Hotel & Tourism Association (CHTA) that will demystify the use of the various social media platforms.
The workshop will be held at the ABHTI and the cost is EC$400.00 for AHTA members and EC$500.00 for non members.
Interested persons should contact Anthea Watkins at the AHTA office.
Wedding Planner & Coordinator Certification Course

We are bringing back our Wedding Coordinator Certification two day workshop from April 12th to 13th. This two day event will teach you how to be a successful wedding planner. We have partnered with a very credible, and reputable organization called the The Wedding Planners Institute of Canada Inc www.wpic.ca . This course will be facilitated by Ms Sue Morris, certified wedding specialist, and will start from 9 – 5pm (both days) at the Antigua Barbuda Hospitality Training Institute. This certification program has a cost, but we have received a discounted rate that can only be given through our Association.  Please see the attached registration form.  Our fees are EC$1500 members, and EC$1750.00 for non-members. 
Your fee includes the following: course instructions, course manual, notepad, pen, examinations, certificate, tea, coffee, refreshments and three course lunch. Please click on this link for the course curriculum: http://wpic.ca/courses-offered/certificate-in-wedding-planning-and-coordination/  
Full payment must be made to ensure your confirmation and can be done with credit card, debit card, cheque or cash. Cheques should be written to the AHTA   
 
For information on any of our training programmes please contact Anthea in the AHTA office.
New AHTA Member - Antigua Chiama Italia by C.M.W.
Antigua Chiama Italia is a company created by the desire to improve the quality of the vacation experience. The idea of ​​offering tour guide services comes from their experience gained from more than  4 years on the island  and from their desire to offer an  additional  service  to  all  the  people, mainly Italians,   who  decide  to spend a vacation on our beautiful island. The services offered include:
 ·         Transfers from the airport with a rep  (who speaks  both Italian and English) with meet and greet at the airport
·         Introductive briefing  on how to move in Antigua;
·         Presentation of bookable excursions;
·         Active phone line 24/7 for any eventuality and a Whatsapp number to be always in direct touch
·         Arrangement of customized sea and land tours.
·         Italian interpreter for weddings.
For more information visit their website http://www.antiguachiamaitalia.it/
Is your restaurant listed on www.antiguahotels.org?

Our consumer website www.antiguahotels.org features a comprehensive listing of places to eat within the AHTA membership. If your restaurant is not yet featured we would like to offer you the opportunity to have it listed and to build a webpage to promote it.
Check out the website and contact Neil in the AHTA office.
Flight Information

Monthly airline schedules are listed on the AHTA Members website here. We have recently added a real time flight tracker with data powered by Flightstats so if you are looking for updated arrival or departure times you can find them here.
CTO - State of the Tourism Industry Report

Presented by Hugh Riley, Secretary General, Caribbean Tourism Organization
Tuesday February 16th, 2016

I’m pleased to announce that for the first time ever, the pace of growth of Caribbean tourism outperformed every major tourism region in the world. Our region has set new arrival and spend records in 2015, far surpassing expectations.

Caribbean tourism grew by an estimated seven per cent to 28.7 million visits, much higher than the projected four to five per cent. This performance was above the global rate of growth, which the UN agency, the World Tourism Organization quotes at 4.4 per cent - read full report here
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Copyright © 2016 Antigua Hotels and Tourist Association, All rights reserved.

Our mailing address is:
Island House. Newgate Street
PO Box 454
St John's
Antigua
Tel: (268) 462.0374 Fax: (268) 462.3702
E-mail: ahta@candw.ag

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