Saint Lucia kicks off its 2010 Summer/Fall Travel Road Shows today, starting in Eatontown, New Jersey.
Promoting the island under the theme "Live the Legend," which highlights destination products, services and attractions to the agent community, the Saint Lucia Tourist Board's (SLTB) marketing and sales teams head will kick off shows from today to August 5.
The initial stops include Eatontown, New Jersey; Philadelphia; Baltimore and Washington DC/ Virginia, but Nerdin St. Rose, SLTB's vice president of marketing and sales, said her team will also tour about 20 cities in August, September and early October, before turning over the sales effort to the Canadian office in mid-October.
"We won't rest on our laurels," said St. Rose ina written relaase before leaving the island for the Mid-Atlantic area to join Saint Lucia's sales associates. "The phenomenal growth we are currently experiencing is very much due in part to the hard work of our sales teams and the travel agent community in our source markets, and we plan to strengthen these relationships over the next few months.”
St. Rose reported that other stops along the itinerary include: Charlotte, North Carolina; Atlanta, Georgia; Miami and Fort Lauderdale, Florida; Houston and Dallas, Texas; Waukesha, Wisconsin; Oak Brook, Illinois; Mason, Ohio; Warren, Michigan; Burlington, Massachusetts; Farmington, Connecticut; White Plains, Woodbury and New York City.
Year to date, Saint Lucia has recorded an overall 11.9 percent increase in stay-over visitors for the six-month period January through June as passenger arrivals increased from 145,575 in 2009 to 162,856 this year.
The most impressive growth came from the United States market, which accounted for 42 percent of all arrivals and registered an average 31.3 percent growth rate over 2009 figures. Total US arrivals reached 68,776 by the end of June.
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