N°2 - June 4th, 2008

In this edition
American Airlines
 
Press & Fam trips 
 
CHA President to visit Antigua
 
Romantic Rhythms tickets
 
AHTA sponsors GoldenEye Calypso Tent

Books for Books
  
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New Members May 2008
 
Hotel
-Lighthouse Bay Resort - Barbuda
 
Associate
-Photogenesis
-Kennedy's,
-Search Antigua.
 
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On the Move
 
Alistair Forrest has been appointed General Manager of the Bluewaters Hotel. Alistair is no stranger to Antigua having held the position of General Manager of several of the island's hotels including most recently Carlisle Bay, Sunsail Colonna and Jolly Beach Vacations.
 
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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%
 
Please remember to send in your May Occupancy figures as early as possible
 
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 Upcoming Events
 
First Annual Caribbean Tourism Summit (ACTS)
June 21st-24th
Washington, DC
 
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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".

Welcome to the second Newsletter of the Antigua Hotels & Tourist Association. A lot has happened in the last week with an emergency meeting of Ministers of Tourism and announcements by American Airlines that it is cutting back flights to the Caribbean. We will try to keep you abreast of all these developments.

American Airlines has revealed its first round of flight reductions as part of its announced plan to reduce capacity. American and American Eagle will restructure operations at San Juan beginning in September, affecting service to the U.S. and various Caribbean islands. In the coming weeks, American said it will continue to make additional schedule reductions in other markets. The company’s goal is to reduce fourth-quarter mainline domestic capacity by 11% to 12% and fourth-quarter regional capacity by 10% to 11%. (Source: Travel Weekly)
 
Below is the schedule for ANU effective 2nd June 2008
 
ANU-SJU
AMERICAN EAGLE 5027  dep 8.39am
AMERICAN AIRLINES 1944 dep 3.05pm
 
SJU-ANU
AMERICAN AIRLINES 891 dep 1.55pm
AMERICAN EAGLE 5026  dep 9.58pm
 
From September 3rd Antigua will no longer benefit from the jet service until further notice. From September 3rd there will be one American Eagle flight per day until the direct jet service to Miami starts on November 19th. 
 
American Eagle flights from San Juan into the Caribbean Islands will be reduced from the current 55 flights per day to 33 flights per day as of September 3rd. 
 
On the positive side Delta Airlines will inaugurate their first flight to Antigua from New York JFK next Thursday June 12th. The service will be twice weekly on Thursdays and Sundays. More in our next newsletter.
 

Fam & Press Trips

This week we have several agents and journalists visiting the island.
 
A group of travel agents from Germany arrived on island on June 2nd on a familiarisation trip organised by TUI and their local representative AETS. They will be staying until June 5th before travelling on to Tobago. The group is staying at Jolly Beach Resort and will be visiting several other properties.
 
Also visiting from Germany is Mrs Renate Bauer and her business partner Mrs Schmid-Balmer. Mrs Bauer is Managing Director of the German Tour Operator Reba-Touristik (www.reba-touristik.de), and sales partner of Wildlife Expeditions International, Grenada. Reba-Touristik intends to expand its own Caribbean programme for the Lesser Antilles including Antigua & Barbuda. The Antigua Yacht Club Marina and Bluewaters are providing complimentary for the ladies.
 
If you would like further information on press and fam trips please contact Anthea at the AHTA office. 

CHA President to visit Antigua

Peter Odle, CHA President and owner of the Mango Bay Hotel in Barbados will be visiting Antigua on June 5th to address AHTA and CHA members at a specially organised luncheon at the Verandah Resort at 12 noon.
 
Peter will update the members on the latest CHA activities which have seen a restructuring of the organisation to make it more streamlined and more responsive to the needs of the membership.
At the upcoming AGM in Washington later this month the CHA will become the CHTA, the Caribbean Hotel & Tourism Association to better reflect its representation of the wider tourism industry and not just hotels.
 
With the current economic crisis and the impending cutbacks by major airlines we look forward to a most interesting presentation. For more information on this event contact the AHTA office.

Romantic Rhythms Tickets on sale at the AHTA

Tickets for the first Antigua International Music Festival are 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
AHTA sponsors Golden Eye Calypso Tent
 
The AHTA is supporting the Calypso Art form by sponsoring the Golden Eye Calypso Tent. The Golden Eye Tent is located at the Palms Restaurant on Fort Road and performances start at 9.30pm every Friday and Sunday evenings fron this Friday June 6th until Carnival.
 
Come out and support our Calypsonians.
 

Books for Books

 
 
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. 
Our website www.antiguahoteljobs.com        
 
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
 
 

 

Antigua Hotels & Tourist Association
PO Box 454, Island House, Newgate Street
St John's
Antigua
 E-mail: neil@antiguahotels.org
http://www.antiguahotels.org