Travel agents visit Tobago to boost UK sales
Posted Mar 29, 2019
The Tobago Tourism Agency hosted seven travel agents from the United Kingdom on a familiarization trip to Tobago from March 17 to 24, 2019. This trip provided the Agency with an ideal opportunity to showcase Tobago’s unique and authentic product offerings to UK front-line travel staff, giving them hands-on experiences to sell the destination more effectively.
The fam trip also served to enhance the travel agents’ awareness of the current Thomas Cook Airlines direct service from Manchester to Tobago in order for them promote this more convenient flight option to their clients in the northern regions of the United Kingdom.
The delegation of travel agents were carefully selected based on their track record of making bookings to Tobago, and their demonstrated capability for selling packages to the Caribbean. Their seven day itinerary included eco-adventure and bird-watching tours, beach expeditions, and visits to some of Tobago’s historical sites, with the islands culinary offerings being highlighted throughout the trip.
A significant undertaking of the travel agents was the exploration of the various tourism accommodation options in Tobago through a series of site visits, with focus on the smaller properties on the island.
These visits proved to be useful to the accommodation operators, as the travel agents offered valuable feedback on how to better appeal to their clients abroad, and access greater business opportunities in the UK, in light of updated travel industry regulations.
The Agency also used this fam trip as an opportunity to expand the ongoing #101reasonsTobago digital marketing campaign, which has been developed to highlight all the unforgettable reasons to visit Tobago.
All participating travel agents contributed to the online content and overall digital conversation about the untouched, unspoilt, undiscovered Tobago, by participating in a photography competition during their time on the island using the hashtags #101reasonsTobago and #TobagoBeyond.
Susan Lindsay of Barrhead Travel was the winner of the competition and was also the most prolific poster, with Andrew Hales of Blue Bay Travel and Barbara Sutton of Travel Counsellors copping the runner up positions. Winners were awarded with a taste of Tobago in the form of locally-made wines
