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| Jacqueline Kuehnel, Travel Impressions' vice president of product development for ALG Distribution // Photo by Joe Pike |
As part of Travel Agent's ongoing coverage of Travel Impressions' "Best of the Best" awards, we sat in on the opening session, in which Jacqueline Kuehnel, vice president of product development for ALG Distribution, told attendees about the company's aggressive growth in the Caribbean and Mexico.
According to Kuehnel, Travel Impressions will be adding about 8,000 hotel rooms in the Caribbean and Mexico by 2016 and another 30,000 hotels rooms in the Caribbean and Mexico by 2017.
Leading the pack of Caribbean destinations is the Dominican Republic while Jamaica continues to be one of the strongest destinations in the Caribbean as well.
"The Dominican Republic is growing in leaps and bounds and we have lots of capacity that we added to Jamaica," says Kuehnel. "This destination (Jamaica) is recalibrating in a post-Sandals world."
Kuehnel was referring to the recent split between Sandals Resorts International, which has its headquarters in Jamaica, and Travel Impressions.
"As soon as that event happened, the phone was ringing from our Jamaica partners asking, 'What can we do to make sure you continue to support Jamaica?,'" says Kuehnel.
And as far as Cuba goes?
"The demand is going crazy. Everyone wants to see it before it apparently gets ruined when the Americans come," says Kuehnel in jest.
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