~Focus upcoming marketing activities ~

PHILIPSBURG--Director of the St. Maarten Tourism Bureau May–Ling Chun and the rest of the St. Maarten delegation have returned from what she described as a very good a productive session of Caribbean Marketplace, recently held in the Bahamas.

Chun, joined by various hoteliers and private sector representatives from St. Maarten, might have been new to Marketplace in her current capacity, but was not new to the various stakeholders. A key element focused on St. Maarten's marketing and promotion plans for the upcoming months, in particular the travel period April to August.

In this regard, Chun hosted a meeting with St. Maarten's advertising and public relation firms to discuss the upcoming shows in Europe and elsewhere, the promotion of St. Maarten's Carnival and the Heineken Regatta among other actions to be executed.

St. Maarten's delegation also met with partners regarding the Boston Globe Travel Show in February and the New York Times Travel Show in March. The New York Times Travel Show features nearly 600 exhibitors, representing more than 100 countries, and focuses on travel destinations, packages and special offers. The Boston Globe Travel Show is touted as the largest consumer-attended travel show in the United States.

Chun explained that the intention is to offer more to travel consumers at these shows besides the customary exhibition booth, where people get only info about the destination. For both shows in 2012, the booths will be more sales oriented with "Book Now!" possibilities that offer incentives. In other words, when a consumer visits the booth, he or she will be able to book a trip to St. Maarten on site.

Chun was also able to attend the Caribbean Tourism Organization's (CTO) Directors of Tourism meeting, as well as the Ministers of Tourism meeting, where CTO's functionality and strategies were discussed. She also touched base with St. Maarten's online partners, including JetBlue Getaways, and provided an update on all things St. Maarten during a press conference that was attended by 40 press representatives from around the world.

St. Maarten's delegation not only spoke about tourism, but, among other topics, also touched on St. Maarten's new constitutional status, infrastructure developments and the new tax structure.