April 19, 2004 – The V.I. Hotel and Tourism Association is on the road for the next two weeks talking to people who sell trips to the territory.
Association president Beverly Nicholson and representatives from Marriott Frenchman's Reef Beach Resort, Sapphire Beach Resort and the Ritz-Carlton St. Thomas left Sunday to visit staff at Hotels.com, American Airlines Vacations, Expedia, and Travel Impressions. Those companies are located in Dallas, Tulsa, Las Vegas, and Riverside, Calif.
Nicholson said these companies package and promote vacations to the territory. Combined, they send more than 75 percent of all overnight visitors to the territory.
"The association wants to ensure that we provide the reservations staff at all the major travel companies the information they need to successfully promote our product," Nicholson said in a news release.
Canika-Chisa George, the association's marketing manager, said the team meets with the phone representatives who actually sell the trips, not those in the upper echelons of the company.
"We buy them lunch, do a presentation, and meet one-on-one," George said Monday.
This sales blitz is just one of four planned for this year. Trips are planned to the Southeast, Midwest and Northeast between now and the fall.
Nicholson said that she learned at last month's 11th Annual USVI Destination Symposium that several key travel partners saw a need for their reservations staff to receive more destination and property information in order to better sell trips.
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