Destination Trinidad and Tobago is currently being actively marketed at the International Trade Bourse (ITB) 2018 in Berlin, Germany. The Honourable Shamfa Cudjoe, Minister of Tourism heads the Trinidad and Tobago delegation whose major focus at ITB 2018 is reassuring the European market that the destination remains open, attractive and ready to do business. ITB runs from March 7 to 11, 2018 and is the world’s largest tourism trade fair.
The Minister of Tourism has a number of meetings scheduled with large and small operators, trade magazines and airlines to examine ways in which partnerships can be established to promote the destination and increase tourist arrivals.
The first day’s meetings have shown that there is increased awareness and keen interest in Trinidad as a leisure destination, and the German market remains passionate about Tobago. Trinidad and Tobago’s attendance at ITB is important as the Ministry seeks to stimulate and maintain greater awareness of Trinidad and Tobago as a prime tourism destination. Attendance is also critical for firming up plans discussed at the World Travel Market (WTM) which is usually held in November.
The Ministry of Tourism met with WestJet Vacations - WestJet is one of the largest Canadian airline operators currently flying to Trinidad three (3) times weekly. Building on talks that started at the World Travel Market last November, the Ministry of Tourism secured a meeting at ITB to advance discussions about marketing initiatives in the Canadian market and arrangements for a weekly direct flight to Tobago. Visitor arrivals to Trinidad and Tobago from Canada have seen a 5 %% increase over the period 2016 to 2017.
“As the Ministry of Tourism continues to place focus on developing the Canadian leisure market, we will be working closely with the Tobago House of Assembly to see this new route come to fruition” stated Minister Cudjoe.
Minister Cudjoe will also lead a follow up meeting with Der Touristik - one of Europe’s largest tour operators. This meeting follows initial talks that took place at WTM regarding the hosting of a mega familiarization tour in Trinidad later this year (2018). Since WTM, Representatives from Der Toursitik have already visited Trinidad and Tobago. This week’s meetings are geared towards advancing this initiative and establishing meaningful partnerships in the European market.
ABOUT ITB
The International Trade Bourse (ITB) is the leading Business to Business (B2B) Platform for Travel and Tourism, is held annually and attracts more than 170,000 visitors - 108,000 trade visitors and over 10,000 exhibitors from 180 countries. All levels of the value added chain are present, including tour operators, system providers, destinations, airlines, hotels and car rental companies. ITB provides an ideal forum for conducting meetings with high level officials and for establishing new customer contacts.