Sandals, BTM Golf Tournament An Ace In Jamaica

From Oscar the Grouch and Elmo to the honourable Edmund Bartlett, Minister of Tourism of Jamaica, special guests were in attendance for the 22nd annual Canadian Travel Industry Golf Tournament held in Jamaica Oct. 20-23 at Sandals Ochi Beach Resort.

“I think it went fabulously. I think the group dynamic is amazing, having most of tour operators here, we have Air Canada Vacations, WestJet, TravelBrands and we have a range of travel agents from all over Canada,” Maureen Barnes-Smith, Unique Vacations (Canada)/Sandals Resorts/Beaches Resorts, told PressToday. “It’s just been a fun event. It’s always been more of a networking event, people get so much done, they meet new friends, new alliances, and then people who met for the first time this year are coming back as teammates next year, so it really fosters relationship building.”

Presented by Baxter Travel Media and Sandals Resorts, the annual tournament featured nightly cocktails and special evening functions, and a lunch at Beaches Ocho Rios, alongside golfing. After two days on the course — and eating jerk chicken at hole 9 — at Sandals Golf & Country Club, one team came out victorious: Dave Patterson, Wayne Noseworthy, and Paul Goosney of TravelBrands and Pierre Raymond of itravel2000, pictured above, who were presented with the championship trophy at the awards dinner on Saturday night (Oct. 22) by Gary Sadler (middle) of Sandals Resorts.

“Beyond the golf, I think an event like the Baxter tournament presents an invaluable opportunity for critical industry players to network,” David Shields, VP sales, Island Routes Caribbean Adventures. “I’ve always seen tremendous value in the networking opportunity that it presents because what it does is it brings the entire distribution chain together… it gives us the opportunity to socially spend some time here in Jamaica and not at a trade show in Canada or cold Canadian environment.”

Meanwhile Bartlett told PressToday the tournament continues to highlight Jamaica as a golf destination.

“The joy that people get from it I think is the takeaway because it’s not about professionalism, it’s not about being Arnold Palmer,” he says. “It’s about fellowship, it’s about camaraderie, it’s about building fraternity and it’s about relationships. I think Sandals providing the venue and Baxter facilitating the gathering of like-minded individuals is a great thing.”