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CHAEF Scholarships
Sint Maarten Roadshow
Marketing Antigua in the Digital Age
Books for Books
New AHTA Intern
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New Members May 2008
Hotel
-Lighthouse Bay Resort - Barbuda
Associate
-GeeGee Consulting,
-Photogenesis
-Kennedy's,
-Search Antigua.
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Hotel closures Summer 2008
Grand Royal - 12th May - 11th August
Sunsail Colonna - May - October 17th
Jumby Bay - June 6th - 2009
Carlisle Bay - August 30th - October 10th
Curtain Bluff - August 23rd - November 1st
Admiral's Inn
Galleon Beach - May 31st -
Long Bay - May 6th - November 1st
Hermitage Bay - September 1st - October 6th
The Inn - May 1st - November 1st
AYCM Resort - September 1st - November 1st.
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Average Hotel occupancies 2008
January - 74.1%
February - 81.1%
March - 72.7%
April - 72.4%
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First Annual Caribbean Tourism Summit (ACTS)
June 21st-24th
Washington, DC
Tourism
Tourism is the act of travel for predominantly recreational or leisure purposes, and also refers to the provision of services in support of this act. According to the World Tourism Organization, tourists are people who "travel to and stay in places outside their usual environment for not more than one consecutive year for leisure, business and other purposes not related to the exercise of an activity remunerated from within the place visited". | |
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Welcome to the May Newsletter of the Antigua Hotels & Tourist Association. This month has been a busy one for the Association. After a very successful Sailing Week we have been involved in many other activities as you will see below. |
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CHAEF Scholarships | |
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Top Hotel workers win CHAEF Scholarships
Five of the country's outstanding hotel workers have been awared scholarships overseas to improve their skills in their various areas of work.
The five were chosen after a rigorous process of selection by the Caribbean Hotel Association Education Foundation. The process saw over 80 applications throughout the region contesting for a chance to benefit from the 31 awards that were available this year.
Resort Manager at Cocobay Resort O'Neil Richards was singled out from among all the regional applicants as an exemplary candidate. Ricahrds is off to the prestigious Cornell University to participate in an international general management summer course.
Also outstanding was award winner Carolyn Joseph, Commis 1 at Carlisle Bay. She will attend the Culinary Institute of America to study a variety of culinary specialities including Mediterranean and Asian Cuisine.
Both Richards and Joseph are the first beneficiaries of a significant contribution from the Curtain Bluff Resort. It was announced that Curtain Bluff is sponsorship a US$10.000 annual scholarship under the auspices of the CHAEF.
Pastry chef at Hermitage Bay Hotel Maurine Bowers, who has received awards from the foundation in the past, will be taking courses in frontline leadership at the Culinary Institute of America.
Commis 1, Yvette McKinnon will be attending the Culinary Institute of America to learn Asian cuisine.
Line cook at Galley Bay Resort Koran Anna-Lin Kong won the Interval International /CHAEF award of US$7000. The funds will go towards her studies for a BSc degree in culinary management at Johnson & Wales University.
At a presentation ceremony at Curtain Bluff appreciation was also extended to the corporate partners whose support is making the scholarship. Also addressing the ceremony were Louise John on behalf of the CHAEF, Neil Forrester, General Manager of the AHTA anf Corthwright Marshall, Acting Director General of Tourism.
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Sint Maarten Roadshow | |
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The Ministry of Tourism, the Rhythms Festival Committee, The Carnival Development Committee (CDC) and the Antigua Hotels and Tourist Association, recently teamed up in St. Maarten on Saturday 24 May, for a destination Road Show at Le Grande Marche, the island’s largest supermarket.
The 8 member delegation interacted one-on-one with the public showcasing the destination, Thalia and Anthea represented the A.H.T.A. along with two of Antigua and Barbuda’s major activities on its Calendar of Events: the Romantic Rhythms Music Festival and Antigua Carnival 2008. Giveaways of rum, hot sauce, Barbuda Pink Sand and bandanas also formed part of the activity.
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In speaking to the reasoning behind the road show Joyce Henry Manager of Marketing and Promotions in the Ministry of Tourism, who headed the delegation, indicated that “Road shows are becoming more effective as they get to the heart of your target audience.”
As a compliment to the road show, the weekend shoppers were treated to a carnival blitz when Queen of Carnival 2007 Tasheka Lavann and Patricia Louisa Tully of the CDC emerged decked out in carnival costumes and parading to Antigua’s Carnival hits.
The romantic sounds of the artistes slated to perform at the Romantic Rhythms Music Festival also filled the air as residents of St. Maarten used the opportunity to purchase, tickets to the Romantic Rhythms Music Festival scheduled to take place from June 12 – June 15.
As a build-up to the road show, several radio interviews were done on St. Maarten’s Laser 101 FM, which created a buzz on the island about the Antiguan delegation, the Romantic Rhythms Music Festival and Antigua and Barbuda - the destination.
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Marketing Antigua in the Digital Age | |
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The A.H.T.A staged a successful seminar educating hotel members and other interested companies on how to maximize the use of the Internet to increase their global customer base and profits.
Held at on Monday May 26, 2008 at the Jolly Beach Resort, participants were introduced to a wide array of e-commerce and e-marketing tools by presenters from POWERi Technologies, a full-service interactive marketing company providing an integrated set of strategy, technology and creative solutions to help clients attract and maintain high-value relationships.
A range of hoteliers from both larger established properties as well as the smaller boutique and locally owned hotels, in addition to a banking institution, food and drink purveyor, event planning firm and local web design and website hosting company were provided with details on website development, the impact of search engines like Google and Yahoo on business profitability, and opportunities to exploit new media such as Facebook, MySpace and YouTube to promote your business. Presenters also outlined the benefits of email marketing and the ease of establishing a profitable client database, the importance of using online public relations strategies and other methods to manage your online reputation, and how to make your website deliver revenue through the use of booking engines designed specifically for small hotels.
Marvin Dejean, Vice President of Media Strategies at POWERi Technologies told participants “Your website is no longer just an extension of your business, your website is your business. If your website is not actually making money for your business, it is an expensive piece of Internet real estate that is not optimizing its value”.
One participant praised the content and delivery of the seminar, “Internet marketing tools could prove to be the hotels and destinations in the Caribbean’s method of leveling the playing field against larger, bigger budget competitors. I can’t wait to incorporate these ideas into my business.”
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Romantic Rhythms Tickets onsale at the AHTA | |
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Tickets for the first Antigua International Music Festival are now on sale at the AHTA office priced at US$50.00 per evening.
The line up starts on Friday 13th June with Lionel Ritchie, Brian McKnight, Maxi Priest and Elakru featuring Tizzy
Saturday night 14th June features Kenny Rogers, Keyshia Cole, Shaggy, Destra, Taxik featuring Claudette Peters and the Burning Flames
and Sunday 15th June features Damian Marley, Heather Headley and Musiq Soulchild |
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Books for Books | |
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Guests regularly leave their read paperback books in their hotel rooms. Every Housekeeping office has piles of these books laying around. We are asking for your help by donating these books to the AHTA.
In every school the library plays a key role in the students education. This is no different at the Antigua & Barbuda Hospitality Training Institute but the library is sorely lacking in up-to-date literature on our industry. If we can collect enough books left behind by our guests we can arrange a book sale at Woods mall and raise money towards new books for our future young hotel workers.
Please help us to help them, drop of any books you can at the AHTA office on Newgate Street. |
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Hayden-Ann Walsh - AHTA Intern
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The A.H.T.A. would like to welcome Hayden-Ann Walsh who has joined the office team as an intern for 10 weeks this summer. Hayden-Ann has just completed her three year course in Tourism Management at U.W.I Mona Campus in Jamaica.
is at your service to help you fill those vacant positions. At no cost we will post any vacant positions to the website.
Just send in the details to the AHTA Office
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