By Dana Malcolm 

Staff Writer 

#TurksandCaicos, February 7, 2023 – The Turks and Caicos is hosting the Board of Directors of the largest travel trade association in the world this week pulling in dozens of tourism heavy hitters and garnering priceless exposure for the country’s tourism industry in the process.

The American Society of Travel Agents (ASTA) is in the TCI for their annual meeting which sees 50 ASTA chapter presidents from across the United States, board members and senior staff gather at Beaches Turks and Caicos for the seven day event.

Gary Sadler Executive VP of Sales at Unique Vacations Limited, the global Sandals representatives of Sandals and Beaches Resorts explained why it was so important that the meeting, which had also brought executives of Nexion Travel, the Travel Leaders Franchise, Flight Centre and more, was taking place in the TCI and not anywhere else.

“ASTA is the largest travel organization in the world and they represent anywhere between 25,000 travel advisors of the 100,000 travel advisors that exist– it’s really about how you take the most senior leaders in the travel industry to come down and spend time in the destination. Turks and Caicos will benefit from the exposure” he promised.

“Just about 50 percent of the chapter presidents and board- this is their first time in the Turks and Caicos as a destination. What that does is it exposes the industry to Turks and Caicos and at Beaches we are always happy to showcase the destination.”

Sadler explained that tourism was truly about bringing in the movers and shakers of the industry to a destination with the hope that they would “go back to their partners, associations and chapters to show the value of Turks and Caicos as a brand.”

ASTA describes itself as the world’s leading association of travel professionals and the global advocate for travel agencies, the travel industry and the traveling public.  ASTA members also represent 80 percent of all travel sold in the United States through the travel agency distribution channel. This means the association has a direct line to the bulk of the Turks and Caicos’ largest source market for Tourism.

On February 5th, tourism leaders in the country addressed the gathered ASTA members, that event was attended by the country’s top executives including Washington Misick, Turks and Caicos Premier; Josephine Connolly, Minister of Tourism and Trevor Musgrove, President of the Turks and Caicos Hotel and Tourism Association.

ASTA members have been arriving in Providenciales, Turks and Caicos since last Wednesday; Beaches has welcomed the agents and executives at the six-star family all-inclusive resort.