Ministry of Tourism Updates
(Audio) Grand Bahama Ministry of Tourism hosts Canadian media familiarization trip
By The Bahamas Weekly News Team
Jun 13, 2014 - 9:41:07 PM

Visiting Canadian media pose with Ministry of Tourism officials, Memories Resort employees and Bahamian media professionals during their familiarization trip to Grand Bahama Island Photo: TheBahamasWeekly.com

Freeport, Bahamas - The Ministry of Tourism Grand Bahama hosted a Canadian Media group on a familiarization trip to Grand Bahama on Saturday, June 7th to Tuesday June 10th, 2014.

The trip was specially crafted to offer to the visiting group first-hand experience of some of Grand Bahamas most exciting and newer island experiences. It is hoped that with a rapidly flourishing tourism product, the experiences garnered by the visiting media will afford them many opportunities to create feature stories, targeting the Canadian travel market, boosting airlift and room nights via Sunwing Travel group.

The Bahamas Weekly News Team was on hand to interview four journalists; Adrienne Lem of Open Jaw Network; Yves Guezou of Tourism Plus, Quebec; Vawn Himmelsbach of Travel Week Magazine; and Ian Stalker of Baxter Travel Media. We also interviewed Paul Strachan – Director of The Bahamas Tourist Office Canada and Denise Adderley Bahamas Director of Sales & Marketing at Blue Diamond Hotels and Resorts.

Paul Strachan – Director of The Bahamas Tourist Office Canada and Betty Bethel, Betty Bethel of the Ministry of Tourism Grand Bahama. Photo: TheBahamasWeekly.com

Paul Strachan – Director of The Bahamas Tourist Office Canada expressed how much the Canadian travel writers enjoyed the diversity of Grand Bahama; “What distinguishes Grand Bahama from other destinations is the fact that its so diverse. We did Kayaking we did Nature tours, we did Garden of the Groves, we went to West End. So it's almost like the entire Bahamas (if you will) all on this island; the city life of Nassau Paradise Island, but just forty minutes maybe thirty five minutes out you can experience what you would experience on one of the out islands, all in one destination."  AUDIO: Paul Strachan.mp3

Vawn Himmelsbach of Vawn Himmelsbach of Travel Week Magazine.

Vawn Himmelsbach of Travel Week Magazine spoke of how much she loves the "Laid back vibe" of Grand Bahama and the fact the she can just walk right off the resort and have access to all sorts of activities. Vawn spoke of how safe she feels as a female traveler and that the water on Grand Bahama is so beautiful that it's hard to believe that it’s not been photo shopped. AUDIO: Vawn Himmelsbach .mp3

Vawn Himmelsbach of Vawn Himmelsbach of Travel Week Magazine interviews Denise Adderley, Director of Sales & Marketing at Blue Diamond Hotels and Resorts. Photo: TheBahamasWeekly.com

*Denise Adderley Bahamas Director of Sales & Marketing at Blue Diamond Hotels and Resorts commented on how impressed the Canadian media were with Grand Bahama Island and Memories. Denise said of Memories resort: "Things are going fabulous here at Memories...we have switched to our summer period so occupancies are a little lower as is traditional for this time of year. We are seeing our Vacation Express guests coming in from our eight gateways...we are looking forward to hosting our local residents." AUDIO: Denise Adderley.mp3

Yves Guezou of Tourism Plus, Quebec.Photo: TheBahamasWeekly.com

Yves Guezou of Tourism Plus, Quebec speaks of a new trend in Quebec, he says; "People are looking for something else than all inconclusives. Usually Quebec people are fond of all inconclusives...but for 2 or 3 years now people are looking for other things like culture, history, nature, sport activities...” which are all available on Grand Bahama Island. AUDIO:  Yves Travel Plus.mp3

Adrienne Lem of Open Jaw Network, Toronto. Photo: TheBahamasWeekly.com

Adrienne Lem of Open Jaw Network will be writing two articles; one on memories and another on the Grand Bahama destination. Because she writes for the travel trade, Adrienne explains that the language of her writings will not be consumer based but that of persons in the travel trade. "I will try to make it useful to them on how to sell this product, how to sell this destination, what makes this special in comparing it to another Caribbean destination." Further she goes on to say, "I feel safe here hopping off of the resort as a woman, I feel very safe... AUDIO: Adrienne lem Open Jaw Network.mp3"

Ian Stalker of Baxter Travel Media, Toronto. Photo: TheBahamasWeekly.com

Ian Stalker of Baxter Travel Media, Toronto commented on the fact that Grand Bahama did lose ground in the Canadian market and that the Bahamas Tourism office is very excited about Sunwing's program which has already rejuvenated the Canadian market. AUDIO: Ian Stalker.mp3

Paul Strachan – Director of The Bahamas Tourist Office Canada being interviewed by David Mackey of The Bahamas Weekly News Team

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