MARIGOT–St. Martin Tourism Office Director Kate Richardson and promotional representative for the Canadian yachting and cruising market recently visited Toronto, Ontario, for a “launching event” at the Fairmont Royal York Hotel, the first of its kind in the capital, which was designed to attract more Canadians to St. Martin.
The day of promotional activities was organised on the initiative of St. Martin Tourism Office in partnership with Atout France, the agency for tourism development of France and arranged to present all aspects of the destination.
Fifteen Canadian travel journalists were invited to a press luncheon, among them some media heavy weights. Kate Richardson interacted with correspondents of the Toronto Star newspaper during a special rendezvous. During the evening, the Tourism Office welcomed 60 tour operators and travel agents.
After benefiting from a presentation of the destination the guests were invited to ask their questions, among which was why the interest in encouraging Canadian customers to visit St. Martin. The Tourism Office highlighted the uniqueness of the island, the only territory in the Caribbean shared between two nationalities.
“St. Martin and Canada have several things in common,” Kate Richardson noted, in front of the audience. “Two languages and one flag in a political and administrative context is interesting for our small island in two respects. Canadians are familiar with St. Martin, besides they usually return after their first stay. Initially, this customer opts for the all-inclusive stay or a cruise.”
“These are products used to entice them because when they return, they choose another type of accommodation that is more selective. They are more and more interested in the luxury product,” said Emile Louisy. “Either they go for the large and beautiful villas or what North Americans call boutique hotels.”
With a high Gross Domestic Product (GDP), Canada indeed constitutes a market with strong purchasing power for our tourism destination, the tourism office stated in its release.
“St. Martin offers all the potential to meet the expectations of these citizens in search of sun and diverse activities during the winter period. The fact that our territory is French adds stronger appeal to the destination for this clientele, whether they be Anglophone or Francophone,” Louisy added. “A little piece of France in the Caribbean has some charm for Canadians, evoking the language of Molière.” “A touch of Europe” was a headline on paxnews.com in an article published at the end of the visit in Toronto.
In 2015, St. Martin attracted some 45,000 Canadians who landed at Princess Juliana International Airport SXM. The tourism office visits Canada several times a year, especially to represent the island at the travel shows and continues to work on doubling the number of visitors.
Source: The Daily Herald https://www.thedailyherald.sx/islands/62925-operation-seduction-to-boost-number-of-canadian-visitors
In the meantime on the Dutch side we are doing operation “DISSAPEARNCE/GHOST” NOWHERE TO BE SEEN IN ORDER TO ATTRACT NOBODY!!!!