ANTIGUA & BARBUDA TOURISM AUTHORITY

February 2018  (LONDON, ENGLAND) - The Antigua and Barbuda Tourism Authority has been shortlisted in the highly competitive Chartered Institute of Marketing Travel Industry Group’s (CIMTIG) Travel Marketing Awards for the Best Tactical Campaign. Shortlisted for the Antigua Beach Bar Trail campaign, the prestigious UK travel awards recognise the most original, creative, innovative and best performing campaigns produced by tourist boards, travel companies and PR agencies.

In 2016, the Tourism Authority launched the ‘Beach Bar Trail’ to help show visitors some of the best spots on the islands.  From foodie gems to romantic hotspots, party bars to hidden hangouts that only the locals know about, the map was designed to encourage visitors to Antigua and Barbuda to explore the island – hopping from bar to bar and soaking up the best of Antiguan hospitality along the way.  

Following the success of this launch, Antigua and Barbuda also partnered with Archer Street, a stylish bar in the heart of central London to further widen the understanding of Antigua’s incredible beach bar offering, with an Antiguan beach bar pop up throughout the summer of 2017. This stunning pop up bar welcomed UK consumer and trade media, tour operators and travel agents, and other industry leaders within the UK travel community to experience a slice of Antigua in the heart of London. Archer Street also welcomed around 80,000 visitors during this pop up period, a record number for the popular bar.

The Tourism Authority also hosted UK press to follow the Beach Bar Trail for themselves in Antigua; a trip that resulted in excellent media coverage across top tier national titles The Times, The Daily Mirror and The Evening Standard, as well as a raft of articles circulated in regional newspapers across the UK.

With these press trips, and other PR pitches, the Beach Bar Trail campaign resulted in 101 pieces of coverage with a PR value in excess of £300,000.

Cherrie Osborne, Director of Tourism in the UK & Europe has said of the awards “It’s fantastic to see the Travel Marketing Awards recognise our campaign for the Beach Bar Trail. The project has involved a multi-faceted and creative approach to raising awareness of Antigua’s amazing beachside offerings both on island and across the UK, we look forward to hearing the final results announced on the 12th March”.