ANTIGUA & BARBUDA TOURISM AUTHORITY

Antigua and Barbuda’s Delegation at ITB 50 includes H.E. Karen-Mae Hill - Antigua and Barbuda High Commissioner London, Mr.Rohan Hector- ABTA Chairman, Dr Werner Giersch - Honorary Consul,  Jean-Marc Flambert - ABTA Vice President UK & Europe,  Ms. Cherrie Osborne – ABTA Director of Tourism UK & Europe and Mr.  Hans-Bert Kuppin - Economic Envoy.

(Berlin, Germany) March 18, 2016 - Antigua and Barbuda had a major presence at ITB Berlin, one of the world’s largest trade and consumer fairs, held in Berlin, Germany from March 9 - March 13, 2016.

This year, the show attracted a record number of visitors as it celebrated its 50th anniversary. Approximately 180,000 visitors interested in being part of the celebrations and meeting with destination representatives, were reported as having attended.  

The Antigua and Barbuda delegation led by the Chairman of the Antigua and Barbuda Tourism Authority - Mr. Rohan Hector and the newly appointed High Commissioner for Antigua and Barbuda, H.E. Karen-Mae Hill engaged in productive meetings with partners Condor, DER Tour, Meires and Thomas Cook. 

The European market is seeing significant growth in arrivals year-to-date, and the Antigua and Barbuda Tourism Authority will continue to ramp up marketing efforts in major European source markets and seek greater opportunities for reaching target audiences.

Nicole Schmidt from  Frankfurter Rundschau receives her Media award from Carol Hay, CTO’s Director of Marketing for the UK & Europe and Cherrie Osborne the Antigua and Barbuda Tourism Authority’s UK & Europe Director of Tourism

Focus was placed on increasing airlift from Germany which is a hub for customers from Scandinavia, Austria, Switzerland and other European countries. Meetings were also  held with Italian tour operators to build on the success of the Eden Viaggi led flights.

The Antigua and Barbuda Tourism Authority shared exhibition space with eight island partner  co-exhibitors to include:  Bluewaters Hotel; Cocos Resort; Hermitage Bay; Keyonna Bay; National Tours and Services; Ocean Point Resort and Spa; Sandals and Sugar Ridge.

During the week the Caribbean Tourism Organisation’s held their annual CTO German Media Awards. Journalist Nicol Schmidt from the daily newspaper “Frankfurter Rundschau” was awarded second place for her article on Antigua, which was produced after her participation on a destination press trip in 2014.  “Frankfurter Rundschau” has a readership of 600,000. The online version of the article can be viewed here: http://www.fnp.de/ratgeber/reise/Die-schaerfste-Insel-der-Karibik;art778,1275014