The Valley, Anguilla —Tuesday, November 1, 2011—Anguilla is one of the countries that will be observing Caribbean Tourism Month this November, under the theme, “One Sea, One Voice, One Caribbean”. The program, which is endorsed by the Caribbean Tourism Organization, has as its primary objectives the creation of opportunities to raise awareness among the people of the Caribbean as to the importance of tourism to the development of the region; the generation of media coverage of the Caribbean tourism product and each destination’s local tourism product; and the celebration of the diversity of the Caribbean tourism product.
In speaking to the decision to introduce the region’s first Tourism Month, Communications Specialist with the CTO, Johnson Johnrose noted, “In the past, we observed Caribbean Tourism Day on the first Tuesday in November, but some countries found it difficult to plan around that day. A month allows them the flexibility to organize accordingly.”
Anguilla’s program of activities for the month have been organized under the sub-theme, “Partnerships: the Key to Success” . Highlights include an island-wide Tourism Awareness Program by the ATB and the AHTA, under the theme “Tourism is Key”; the publication of papers focused on the role of the Environment, Sports and Culture in Tourism, in partnership with the Department of the Environment, The Department of Youth and Culture, the Anguilla Tennis Academy and The Anguillian newspaper; a community-led beach adoption and clean-up campaign spear-headed by the Sandy Hill Bay Neighbours Community; the island’s first annual MEDFEST, on November 25th and 26th, which focuses on health and wellness, music and entertainment, whilst benefitting the Princess Alexandra Hospital; and the island’s annual Tourism Week which will run from November 26th to December 2nd, and is a collaborative effort of the Ministry of Tourism, the Anguilla Tourist Board and the Anguilla Hotel & Tourism Association.
Several CTO member countries have planned – or are planning – activities in observance of the month. Both St. Kitts and Grenada, which, in the past organized tourism awareness programmes in October have moved the programmes to November in keeping with Caribbean Tourism Month. Commemorative activities will also be observed in the Bahamas and Tobago.
As part of the overall programme, CTO has organized a number of media broadcasts which will air throughout the region on matters pertaining to tourism. These include a 30-minute special on the Caribbean’s participation at ITB and a special on Rum & Rhythm by The Sea; rebroadcast of A Tax Too Far…? the CTO documentary on the APD; and rebroadcast of a half hour special on Caribbean Week in Toronto 2010. A special 5-day promotion featuring a daily prize trip valued at L5,000.00 for 2 persons was also organized by CTO-UK in conjunction with the Daily Mirror and the Sunday Mirror newspapers and partners, British Airways, which donated tickets, as well as Rex Resorts, Almond Resorts, the Dominican Republic Tourist Board, LaSource Grenada and Harlequin Hotel and Resorts who provided the accommodation.
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