St. John's, Antigua (February 1, 2009) – Directors of Tourism and Marketing Managers from Antigua and Barbuda's overseas tourists offices recently converged on Antigua to set the vision for the destination for 2009.

During the three day marketing meeting which ended on January 29, tourism officials from the UK, US, Canadian, German, French and Italian offices had the opportunity to meet with the newly appointed CEO of the Antigua and Barbuda Tourism Authority, Colin C. James.

According to Minister of Tourism Harold Lovell, the overseas offices will fall under the ambit of the Antigua and Barbuda Tourism Authority when it commences operations on February 2.

Lovell at the meeting said "the creation of the Antigua and Barbuda Tourism Authority will ensure that there is one central body that markets the destination including all the products that make up the destination.  By marketing cohesively this can only serve to enhance and strengthen the brand of the destination."

CEO of the Antigua and Barbuda Tourism Authority, Colin C. James, in his presentation on the way forward, emphasised the need to respond quickly and in a focused and strategic way to meet the unprecedented challenges that are affecting the industry.

Embedded in the development of a three year marketing plan, was an emergency 90 day turn around plan, which he said, will be implemented shortly following consultation with the Antigua Hotel and Tourist Association (AHTA).

James said that, "the primary objective of the 90 day turn around plan is to market the Antigua and Barbuda destination brand using a creative mix of marketing and PR programs, to drive visitor arrivals from all source markets."

Several Members of the AHTA who pledged their support for this initiative joined the tourism marketing team at a session, and provided invaluable input to the planning process.

The overseas offices also used the meeting, to report on their activities for 2008 and present their proposed plans for 2009.

The matter of crisis communications and plans for leveraging the Antigua and Barbuda brand were  also agreed.

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