Love Is In The Air At From The Bahamas With Love
Describing the travel trade and destination wedding specialists as the “custodians of this niche market,” Dionisio D’Aguilar, Minister of Tourism & Aviation welcomed attendees to the From The Bahamas With Love virtual romance and wedding expo yesterday (March 2).
With day one of a two day event dedicated exclusively to trade professionals, The Bahamas highlighted how important travel agents are to the destination. The informative day was filled with panel discussions on topics ranging from how hotels and resorts are adapting in response to the global pandemic to the changing landscape of romance travel and the unique options that await across The Bahamas when travel resumes in full force.
Although flights from Canada have temporarily been suspended, Joy Jibrilu, Director General of the Bahamas Ministry of Tourism, told PressToday that as a tourism dependent destination, it’s essential to continue promoting The Bahamas in anticipation of the bounce back.
“One of the things we’ve worked really hard to do over this past year is preparing for the return of travel and tourism. What we want to do is make sure that when people think about travelling, and are thinking about somewhere that’s safe and easy to get to, that The Bahamas will be front of mind. By keeping our partners engaged and letting them know about the amazing new initiatives the Ministry has undertaken during this period, we felt that it was a good way to keep the communication lines open and talk about The Bahamas to be in a state of readiness when the Canadian government says it’s okay for everyone to travel again.”
In his presentation, based on his popular book, “Shut Up and Sell More Weddings & Events,” Alan Berg of Wedding Business Solutions LLC outlined several tips for agents to grow their destination wedding bookings, and shared some suggestions and examples about how to ask the right questions to get their clients closer to the wedding of their dreams. One of his tips was to ditch sales pitches because beyond being a training tool, they don’t translate well into the real world.
“The real world is different. The real world doesn’t go as linear, we don’t go from A to Z with everyone just in order,” he said. “We need to do that with a little more finesse and skip some things along the way that are not important to this particular person or this particular couple.”
Agents who took part in the event will have the chance to replay the sessions.
For those who are looking for memorable things to do away from hotels or resorts, Carmel Churchill, a consultant with the Grand Bahama Island Tourism Board pointed out that her island offers couples the chance to snorkel with stingrays through West End Ecology Tours or to enjoy delicious meals ranging from a five-star dining experience in Freeport to crab conch at the local fish fry.
If travel agents have clients who may be interested in learning more about the romance and honeymoon options available in The Bahamas, a second From The Bahamas With Love event will be held on March 10 for consumers. Registration is available at: https://www.bahamas.com/from-the-bahamas-with-love-consumer.
