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Bahamas Ministry of Tourism Holds Mega Fam For Florida Travel Agents

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#Bahamas, December 20, 2017 – Nassau – Some forty of the top producing travel agents including Bahamas travel specialists from throughout Florida were recently hosted to a mega familiarization trip to Nassau, Bahamas by the Bahamas Ministry of Tourism and Aviation (BMOTA) Florida sales office.   The trip in partnership with the Bahamas’ major stakeholders and key industry partners, afforded the agents the opportunity to experience firsthand, the newest tourism developments and destination assets in The Bahamas.

The travel agents who came from as far North as Tampa and Jacksonville, Florida spent three days and two nights at the exclusive BahaMar Resort on Cable Beach, the newest and largest luxury resort in the Caribbean, which recently opened its doors on April 21, 2017.

Before conducting site inspections of its Grand Hyatt and SLS properties, the Management of BahaMar hosted the agents to a first class welcome dinner and reception, which featured live food stations and cultural rake and scrape entertainment.   A theme lit fountain show, capped the festive evening.

Welcoming the agents to The Bahamas was Mr. Travis Robinson, Parliamentary Secretary in the BMOTA, who recognized the pivotal role that the travel agents play in the overall success of tourism in The Bahamas.

“Success in any enterprise is aligning yourself with the right partners, travel partners.   While everyone is super excited about the current digital age we live in and in technology, and while we love that it is faster, more efficient and more productive than any human being, we must concede that its shortcomings and trust cannot replace the human being.   Those human beings – being the travel agents ranging from 22% among general consumers to 35% among millennials, who guide them into making the right choices for their travel experiences”.

photo mega fam group atlantis resortMr. Robinson also congratulated and recognized the more than 5,000 agents who have enrolled in the Bahamas Specialist program, 1200 of whom had successfully completed and graduated from the program, several of whom were in attendance, for spending countless personal hours, training and educating themselves on The Bahamas’ tourism product, to become certified Bahamas experts.

“BahaMar is especially happy to host this group at its resort which features, three world class luxury brands; Grand Hyatt for luxurious leisure travel; SLS a modern, progressive and energetic brand, and Rosewood, its ultra luxury resort, the later of which is scheduled to open in 2018,” said John D’Angelo, Resort Manager, Grand Hyatt at BahaMar.

“We are happy that we have been able to host this esteem and important group of agents to our beautiful resort, and that they, after two or three attempts, have uncover for themselves, the large elephant in the room where they have been able to see, touch and experience for themselves, that yes, we are really open for business”.

“Their reviews of our resort have all been positive and refreshing, and we are appreciative of their visit and their renewed confidence now to better tell and sell our resort to their clients,” he said.

Agents also conducted site visits to Melia Nassau Beach Hotel, Sandals Royal Bahamian Resort and Graycliff, in Nassau and Sunrise Beach Club, Warwick Hotel, Comfort Suites and Atlantis Resort on Paradise Island.

The group also enjoyed a city tour and visited Nassau’s historical and tourism landmarks including Fort Fincastle, Fort Charlotte, Parliament Square and explored the slave trade history and movement during an educational tour at Heritage Museum.

In appreciation of their business, Atlantis Resort laid out the red carpet for the travel agents and hosted them to an authentic, cultural and most memorable farewell dinner at their famous Ocean’s Edge facility, which features the world’s largest indoor aquarium.    A live jazz band entertained the agents as they feasted on cuisine from three of Atlantis’ newest Bahamian restaurant vendors: McKinney’s Conch Stand, Frankie’s Gone Bananas and Sip Sip.   A full junkanoo rush out, a colorful display of costumes and The Bahamas’ number one cultural tradition, which represents the heart, pulse and sound of its people, ended the incredible evening.

Jennifer Gardiner-Bannister, Area Manager of the BMOTA, and organizer of the Bahamas mega familiarization trip said “The BMOTA is grateful for the unwavering support it receives from its travel partners, in particular the travel agents.   The industry has had an incredible year brought on by recent hurricanes, and while The Bahamas has been spared from such damages, it is the continuous efforts of those travel agents, who work tirelessly on our behalf getting the word out to their clients that the Bahamas is open for business, and we could not be more grateful.”

“Our ‘Triple O’ approach sales strategy including:  ‘online’, where we engage with our travel partners via social media and e-newsletters; ‘offline’, where we visit their agencies, hold lunch and learn seminars and other face-to-face in-agency presentations, along with our ‘on-island’, escorted site and fam trips to The Bahamas to experience the destination product, are proving to be most critical and rewarding for us,” she said.

“We look forward to reengaging and working with these valuable partners in 2018 and beyond, whom we love and appreciate,” she said.

 

Photo Caption:

Group 1-  Pictured is Parliamentary Secretary in the BMOTA, Travis Robinson, (far right) with some of the Bahamas Specialists graduates and participants in the Florida travel agents mega fam and Jennifer Gardiner-Bannister (far left) Area Manager, BMOTA Florida Sales Office and event organizer.

 

 

Group 2-  Florida travel agents conducted numerous site visits to several hotels in Nassau and Paradise Island, including at the Warwick Hotel, where they were also hosted to lunch by the hotel management team.

 

 

Group 3 – Junkanoo at Atlantis Resort on Paradise Island.  Management at Atlantis laid out the red carpet and hosted a festive evening of dinner, jazz and Junkanoo for the travel agents who participated in The Bahamas’ mega fam.

 

 

 

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RTCIPF Observes World Down Syndrome Day

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On March 21st, 2024, the Royal Turks and Caicos Islands Police Force joined the international, regional and local communities in observing World Down Syndrome Day. 

Officers showed their support by wearing brightly coloured and mismatched socks to raise awareness. 

The head of the Safeguarding and Public Protection Unit, Assistant Superintendent of Police Grantley Williams, Training Manager Mrs Odessa Forbes and Media Relations Officer Denyse Renne visited the SNAP Centre and interacted with the students.

In a message to the TCI community, the RTCIPF noted that stereotypes perpetuate stigma and hinder inclusion, preventing individuals from reaching their full potential. 

Instead, the RTCIPF calls for individuals to foster an environment of acceptance and support where everyone is valued for who they are. 

By breaking down barriers and challenging misconceptions, we can create a more inclusive society where individuals with Down Syndrome are empowered to live fulfilling lives and contribute meaningfully to their communities and, by extension, the TCI. 

As law enforcement officers, we must protect and serve all members of society, regardless of their abilities. 

Let’s work together to ensure that individuals with Down Syndrome are treated with dignity and respect and that their rights are upheld.

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CARICOM speaks out on Climate Change, looking to May meeting to amplify call for Climate Funding

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March 3, 2024

 

The Caribbean Community (CARICOM) remains on the frontlines of global climate crisis, an issue the Region has been aggressively advocating on for the past thirty years. Despite the many commitments and promises of international partners, the window of opportunity to limit global warming to 1.5 degrees Celsius above pre-industrial levels is rapidly closing.

Heads of Government are concerned that while COP 28 was widely regarded as a historic event, with the completion of the first global stocktake (GST), on progress in achievement of the Paris Agreement goals, the outcomes of GST show that emissions of greenhouse gases continue to rise and the nationally determined contributions (NDCs) of Parties will not keep global temperatures below the 1.5 degree goal enshrined in the Paris Agreement.

Heads of Government also expressed concern to be heading to COP 29 where a New Finance Goal will be articulated to replace the 100bn goal, which has not yet been met, even as developing countries require trillions to deal with the escalating impacts of climate change. Developed country parties have not provided enough finance at scale, technology and capacity building support required to help developing countries tackle their pressing needs to build their resilience, especially in adapting to the adverse and increasingly catastrophic impacts of climate change. The clear absence of definitive timelines for action and quantitative commitments for scaling up of investments, and particularly adaptation finance emerging out of COP 28, cause great concern to our Region.

The Conference noted that Small Island Developing States (SIDS), recognized as the most vulnerable group of countries and a special case for sustainable development, have been facing strong push back against the recognition of their special circumstances especially in the context of climate finance. There is limited international support for special allocations for SIDS within financing arrangements and available climate finance from international and private sources is limited, expensive and too onerous to access.

In light of the preceding, Heads of Government called for CARICOM to take a strategic, unified and coordinated approach to ensure that the Region remains influential in the climate and development arena through engagements with key partners and advocacy groups.

They called for renewed focus by the Region to advocate for inclusion of forests, nature-based solutions and blue carbon into market mechanisms with the aim of articulating clear regional positions and strategies.

Heads of Government reiterated the call for improved readiness programmes, simplified approval procedures, a change to the criteria for determining access to low-cost finance, and for the adoption of programmatic approaches to address the bottlenecks in accessing finance.

The Region reiterates its support for the Bridgetown Initiative’s call to expand capital adequacy of international financial institutions.

Heads recognized that the Fourth International Conference on Small Island Developing States, scheduled to be held in Antigua and Barbuda, 27 – 30 May 2024, will be an inflection point for many of these discussions to be articulated. As such, the Region remains committed to participating in the Conference at the highest level.

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South Caicos Development Plans shared with Washington-Misick led Administration

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On Monday, 12 February 2024, the Premier led a delegation to tour the island of South Caicos to view the ongoing public and private sector projects, involving the remodelling and rebranding of the airport terminals, historical districts, and the East Bay Hotel.

The tour of the various developments reinforced the Government’s commitment to collaborating with stakeholders to boost the island’s activity and economy.

Photos courtesy of the TCI Office of the Premier

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