Regional tourism showing good signs

Marketing Associate of Liat, Carol Jordan has urged, when travelling through the region to book early for better fares. However, she did indicate that entertainment events are a significant driver for regional tourism, and for events such as “Crop Over”.

 

She told Business Monday, “Once you book early you can capitalise on competitive prices, and that is not only at LIAT that is worldwide. We are trying to change the tune of travel in the Caribbean by encouraging persons to plan vacation early. 

 

“We still get people travelling for events such as “Vinci Mas”, where you are not able to get a flight to St. Vincent during this time or “St. Lucia Jazz”. That is evidence people are still interested in travelling and events are definitely a factor.

 

We have seen a high spike last week with packages for the Reggae Festival in Barbados, we have also done some promotions in St Vincent, Antigua and Dominica. There are also other promotions taking place in other parts of the region. 

 

People are already booking for Crop Over. We work very closely with the BTMI in terms of promoting Crop Over and getting people to book early. We also partner with the NCF, as people complain about getting seats to come in for Crop Over. 

 

“The demand is there for Crop Over and people, are definitely interested in coming to the festival.”

 

In terms of service, the LIAT official indicated, “There are a lot of details that people don’t know about that happen behind the scenes. People will not understand as a passenger. We try every day to ensure that the 

travel experience is a positive one for the customer, and we rely heavily on our safety record to ensure that all of our passengers are safe. We always try to use whatever situation has occurred before and past experiences to improve our service.

 

“It is a continuous lesson for us in terms of getting it right for all facets of the operation.”  (NB)