TTAL working on mandate

TOBAGO BUREAU

THE Tobago Tourism Agency Limited (TTAL), in collaboration with the Tobago House of Assembly’s (THA) Division of Tourism, Culture and Transportation, continues to work towards achieving its mandate, Tourism Secretary Nadine Stewart-Phillips said.

Addressing the post Executive Council media briefing on Wednesday at the Victor E Bruce Financial Complex in Scarborough, Stewart-Phillips said TTAL’s mandate currently targets a three-year road map for growth, adding that as part of the go-to market strategy to grow business from the main source markets, TTAL recognises the importance of sales call to support all the other marketing initiatives.

“A sales mission allows direct interaction with a wide range of businesses selling Tobago, that we would not meet at normal trade shows because they may not attend. It allows us to keep our hands on the pulse of the market, whilst building relationships and reinforcing commitment,” she said.

The Division’s representative group in the UK, AMG (Advantage Management Group) she said, was tasked to set up this sales mission. This sales mission, according to Stewart-Phillips was attended by the TTAL’s CEO Louis Lewis, as well as Marketing Coordinator Sheena DesVignes during the period September 9 to 15.

“As part of this sales mission, the team was able to share updates and key messages of tourism development in Tobago, receive feedback as to the perceptions and impacts of the new branding strategy in positioning Tobago as a upcoming and desirable holiday destination in the UK, exploring new ideas and opportunities for ongoing sales and marketing strategies, educate Irish consumers about Tobago and educate the Irish travel trade about Tobago,” she said adding that they also attended two Caribbean Tourism Organisation road shows with approximately 40 agents in attendance from different regions than TTAL has previously attended. This, she said gave them the opportunity to network with the travel agents as well as to provide a dedicated training session about Tobago.