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National Solidarity March and Memorial Service
Caribbean Airline Update
World Travel Market
Gee Gee Consulting
Monthly Luncheon
New CHTC Officers
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New Members August 2008
Hemmingways Restaurant,
St John's
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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.
Blue Heron by rex resorts -
August 5th - December 5th
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Average Hotel occupancies 2008
January - 74.1%
February - 81.1%
March - 72.7%
April - 72.4%
May - 63.7%
June - 57.3%
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Upcoming Events
AHTA Monthly Luncheon
Vyvien's Restaurant,
Blue Waters
- 14th August
Christian Valley Magic Mango Fest
- 16th & 17th August
Small Hotels Retreat
Marriott St Kitts
- 1st - 3rd October
World Travel Market
- 10th - 13th November
Caribbean Marketplace 2009
Saint Lucia
- 18 - 20th January
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Welcome to the Newsletter of the Antigua Hotels & Tourist Association. |
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National Solidarity March and Memorial Service | |
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NGO’s, Unions, Government, Political Parties unite towards one goal – Stop the Violence
In an urgent Appeal to Stop Violence in Antigua, and deeply saddened by the current happenings taking place in Antigua & Barbuda, the NGOs, Unions, Government, Political Parties and private sector have joined together to organize a National Solidarity March and Memorial Service on Thursday 7th August, 2008, at 5:00 P.M starting at the Holy Family Cathedral and ending at the Rising Sun grounds. Citizens are strongly urged to collectively join voices and wholeheartedly engage themselves in the struggle for the Antigua that we once knew.
It is time to stand firmly together as one people and openly condemn the deplorable and inhumane acts that threaten our values of peace, freedom and justice. We can all make a difference we can together stop the violence. We can no longer allow the perpetrators of such violence to impinge on our freedom and security. We cannot permit offenders, through the propagation of violence, to diminish the progress we have made as a country. We cannot stand by and tolerate any more innocent lives to be taken from our families and loved ones. We must come together as a unified voice to promote security, communal harmony, peace and love as a nation, as a people - We are our brother’s keeper.
As part of the march, a brief memorial ceremony will pay tribute to the individuals who have been the recent victims of senseless violent acts.
Through the National Solidarity March and Memorial, we truly hope to make the love for our country and for each other, a strong and visible force to be reckoned with. Come and show solidarity at the march on Thursday August 7th, as a means of ending the violence and taking Antigua back from the criminals. Antiguans and Barbudans are a caring and loving people together we can, and will stop the violence! |
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Caribbean Airline Update | |
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American Airlines will retain its daily nonstop flights from both Los Angeles and Baltimore to San Juan, according to the Puerto Rico Port Authority and the Puerto Rico Tourism Company. It had been feared those flights would be part of American’s cutbacks in Caribbean service that are scheduled to take effect Sept. 3. American is adding flights from Miami this fall, starting with a second daily flight to St. Maarten, beginning Nov. 2, as well as new twice-weekly service from New York on Dec. 18. The airline will launch nonstop service between Miami and Grenada on Nov. 2. The flight will operate daily except during the spring and fall, when the schedule is reduced to five flights a week. The carrier also will increase its Miami-St. Kitts service to daily on Nov. 3, up from five flights a week. American also has a twice-weekly nonstop from New York to St. Kitts. In other airline news, Delta will launch Saturday nonstop service from New York to Bonaire on Dec. 20. Delta Air Lines flight #553 will depart John F. Kennedy International Airport Saturdays at 10:35 a.m. arriving into Bonaire’s Flamingo International Airport at 4:25 p.m. The return flight #554 will depart Bonaire Saturdays at 5:15pm arriving into New York JFK at 9:05pm. To celebrate the new service, Delta is offering one-way special fares of $239 from New York to Bonaire (based on a round-trip purchase) for purchase by August 6, 2008 for travel between January 10 and April 4, 2009. The carrier currently serves Bonaire weekly from Atlanta. Another proactive measure designed to help Puerto Rico aviation, following the country’s agreement with American Airlines, is the port authority’s one-year extension of its earlier decision to suspend tariff increases at Luis Munoz Marin Airport in San Juan. An incentive program is in the works to lower tariffs by offering the airlines discounts of between 15% and 45% on rent, landing fees and passenger fees if airlines can increase passenger traffic in the traditionally slower months of September, October and February. Puerto Rico early on took the initiative in launching a series of meetings with the airline industry to integrate its air partners with the destination’s efforts to promote travel to the Caribbean and to stimulate greater demand for air access to the region’s major markets. (Source: Travel Weekly) |
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World Travel Market | |
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World Travel Market (WTM) will be held at Excel in London from 10th – 13th November 2008. As in previous years the Antigua and Barbuda Tourist Office will be participating in the Caribbean Tourism Organisation (CTO) Caribbean Village with a double-decker stand.
Tourism stakeholders are invited to participate and exhibit on the stand. The cost remain the same as last year and is as follows: First Participant of a company: £500.00 and then £250.00 for each subsequent participant:
These charges include: Counter space on the Antigua and Barbuda stand Participation in the Caribbean Sunset Hour – CTO Caribbean Village Participation at any other function/s hosted by the Antigua and Barbuda Tourist Office at WTM. Sharers who wish to book a meeting table can do so at a cost of £500.00 which includes one table and a maximum of four chairs. Reserved meeting tables are for the exclusive use of the payee and cannot be utilised by companies who did not book in advance.
Further information and registration forms are avilable |
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Gee Gee Consulting
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A new associate member of the AHTA, Gee Gee Consulting, owned by the former Director General of Tourism, Lorraine Headley, offers services in tourism and hotel development and marketing. A particular area of emphasis is helping Caribbean companies maximise the potential of the Internet in marketing and operating in a global industry.
Gee Gee Consulting has partnered with POWERi Technologies, a Florida based Internet marketing agency, to provide a suite of dynamic products and services in the Caribbean made especially affordable for small businesses. POWERi has developed a unique product to enable small independently-owned hotels to capture their share of direct online revenue via a fully integrated online reservation system. With fees for the reservations system, REGIS, commencing as low as US$100 per month, small hotels have an opportunity to quadruple their online sales revenue as experienced by other REGIS clients. As a limited time special offer, the first 6 months fees of a 1 year agreement will be complimentary for AHTA member colleagues. To sign up for the service or find out more about how REGIS can transform your business, contact Lorraine at headley@poweri.com or lorraine@geegeeconsulting.com |
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Monthly Luncheon | |
The next monthly luncheon will be held on Thursday August 14th at the Vyvien's restaurant at Blue Waters at 12 midday.
The speaker will be Mario Bento who will be giving a presentation on the Recycling Project of the Rotary Club Antigua Sundown. Mario has been the leading force behind this project that currently recycles plastic bottles, aluminium cans, car batteries and printer cartridges.
Our industry can do a lot more in the domain of recycling and this will be an ideal opportunity for us to build a partnership with the Rotary Club project.
The cost of the luncheon is EC$100.00 payable at the door. If you are interested in attending please contact Neil at neil@antiguahotels.org |
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The Caribbean Hotel & Tourism Association (CHTA) elected its slate of officers to work under the leadership of Enrique De Marchena Kaluche, President of CHTA for the 2008-2010 biennium. These officers were elected by the CHTA Board of Directors at the Annual General Meeting of CHTA, held in Miami, FL on July 22, 2008. The elected officers are:
First Vice President -- Richard Doumeng, U.S. Virgin Islands Hotel & Tourism Association
Second Vice President -- Josef Forstmayr, Jamaica Hotel & Tourist Association
Third Vice President -- Sherille Hughes, Anguilla Hotel & Tourism Association
Fourth Vice President -- Haydée Rainieri, Asociacion Nacional de Hoteles & Restaurantes, Dominican Republic
Fifth Vice President -- Willem Jonckheer, Curaçao Hospitality & Tourism Association Treasurer -- Jag Mehta, Jamaica Hotel & Tourist Association
Immediate Past President, Peter J. Odle, is now the Chairman of CHTA. In addition to the elected officers and in keeping with the CHTA Articles of Association, the President appointed the following members to serve as Regional Vice Presidents: John Lynch, Sandals & Beaches Resort, Jamaica; Romney Penn, Hodge’s Creek Marina Hotel, BVI; Reyson Pimentel, BlueBay Villas Cerradas, Dominican Republic; Bill Clegg, Choice Hotels International, United States; and Kevin M. Kenny, Angostura Limited, Trinidad and Tobago.
“I am very proud and pleased with the slate of officers that have been chosen by the CHTA Board together with the Regional Vice Presidents I look forward to working with all of them in the next two years,” said Enrique De Marchena Kaluche, president of CHTA.
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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
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No.8 - August 6th, 2008.JPG)
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