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Major tour operators converging on Barbados for 2019 meeting with tourism partners

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Three weeks away from the May 1 start of the premier business-to-business marketplace, Connect Barbados, with over 100 participants – inclusive of 56 tour operators, have already registered to come and meet with local tourism partners including attraction providers and hoteliers.

Under the theme ‘Breathing Power into Business Connections’, the three-day conference is now in its 14th year. Tour operators have been invited from Barbados’ main source markets – the United Kingdom, the United States of America, Canada, Europe and Caribbean and Latin America. Tour operators such as: Air Canada Vacations, Virgin Holidays and Expedia Group, to name a few have already registered to come learn about what is new in Destination Barbados.

Connect Barbados is an annual conference providing opportunities to island operators to sell Barbados’ holiday products to invited tour operators in all of the island’s major source markets.

The marketplace allows global travel partners to learn about and experience the latest product and service developments on the island, while affording local partners the occasion to thank them for the tremendous contribution they continue to make the success of Barbados’ premier economic sector.

BTMI CEO, William ‘Billy’ Griffith, mentioned, “We are positively anticipating to surpass the 1,200 meeting appointments from Connect 2018 as we once again welcome and share our beautiful product with participating tour operators. Being able to connect our local service providers with the agents who have direct contact with potential visitors to Barbados will be extremely vital to both parties.”

This year, as we celebrate the Year of Wellness and Soft Adventure, tour operators will be treated to an outdoor welcome reception as they kick their feet in the sand at the “Feet in the Sand Beach Party, featuring top local entertainment and cuisine, before proceeding to two full days of business-to-business meetings at the Hilton Barbados Resort.

To close out the highly-anticipated conference, a special final evening reception will be held at the prestigious Harrison’s Cave and tour operators will get the opportunity to tour the cave first-hand. On the final day, participants will tour the island for a diverse Attractions Day, inspecting places of interest based on their specialties.

Travel News | eTurboNews

eTN Hero: Cordelia Igel, team leader at Vox Restaurant, Grand Hyatt Hotel Berlin

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Many of us traveling around the globe on business have travel stories to tell. I spend more than 100 fully-paid nights every year in Hyatt Hotels around the world. Doing this, you get to know a brand more closely.

I am collecting my own list of heroes and honoring each of them eTN Heroes. You cannot buy eTN Heroes, and this title is a publisher’s recommendation based on personal experience.

I realize there are so many heroes in the hospitality industry and even more in the rest of the travel and tourism industry, so my personal experience is only a very small token of well-deserved recognition.

Today, I would like to introduce Cordelia Igel, a senior team leader at Vox Restaurant at the Grand Hyatt, Berlin, Germany as the latest eTN Hero.

Travelers like me experience hotels as a second home. When something doesn’t make sense, I am always outspoken and hope my criticism is heard. I want the businesses that cater to my travel to do well.

Loving my espresso every day is a passion many fellow travelers share. For me, it doesn’t make sense when international hotels cannot see that good espresso is a major selling point. For me, it’s a major buying point when selecting a hotel.

For example, I stopped staying at the Marriott Newark Airport where the Starbucks in this hotel is only open from 6 am to 10 am.

It boggles my mind because people come in 24 hours a day because after all, it’s an airport hotel.

With travelers arriving or leaving this hotel don’t always go by Eastern Standard time.

A good cup of coffee becomes as important as a good bed or a hot shower.

The same goes for food. I select hotels where I can get my breakfast, lunch, or dinner 24/7 because my body time clock is not always synchronized with the time in the destination.

Mistakes happen, especially when you’re jetlagged. One of the worst was when I picked up a suitcase that belonged to another passenger in Tokyo after arriving from Abu Dhabi and showed up at the Grand Hyatt Tokyo with the wrong luggage. Takashi Kai, Assistant Manager at the Grand Hyatt Tokyo, was my first eTN Hero that day and managed this impossible and frustrating situation for me.

Here why I am so thankful to Cordelia Igel, the senior team leader at Vox Restaurant at the Grand Hyatt Berlin, my latest eTN Hero.

In March during ITB  I stayed at the hotel for 8 nights.

The hotel has a fantastic breakfast and a great pool/gym area along with a very central and exciting location close to Potsdamer Platz.

Rooms are a little small and average in Berlin, but acceptable. I may have been spoiled. I stayed at the Hyatt Haus Duesseldorf before arriving in Berlin during the same trip and also one night at the Park Hyatt Hamburg and loved my apartment and hotel suite. My apartment at Duesseldorf Hyatt Haus was over the top – washer, dryer, living room, bedroom, and an outside patio with a million dollar view, and enough space to entertain 100 people.

Here is why Cordelia at the Grand Hyatt Berlin is my hero. Attending a very busy trade show is always a challenge when managing a busy scheduled and sleep. My morning espresso is of utmost importance. In the past, when staying at the Grand Hyatt Hotel in Berlin, I went to Starbucks across the street from the hotel, but this year, Starbucks was no longer there.

What were my options? As a Globalist member in the Hyatt loyalty program, my breakfast is always included. Hyatt Germany is not one of the hotels forcing Globalists to take their breakfast only in the Club lounge.

The continental breakfast at the Hyatt Grand Clun is usually not comparable with the wide variety of food found at VOX restaurant.

So everything was perfect in the morning, right? Wrong!

When trying the Club lounge espresso, I should have known it wasn’t up to my standards as it was served from a push-button machine. However, not all Grand Clubs are the same. At the Grand Hyatt Seoul, Korea the Espresso machine is the best I found in the Hyatt system so far.

At the Grand Hyatt Berlin, when dining in the hotel’s 5-star restaurant VOX, a 3-star espresso is served from a push-button machine.

When I asked the lead server, Cordelia, why they are serving such a superb breakfast and offer only a push button machine-made espresso she offered a solution.

The only good espresso machine in the hotel not using push-buttons was at the hotel bar. Cordelia went to the hotel bar and personally hand-crafted a cup of real espresso for me. She also managed to bring it back within one minute after pouring. Magical!

Every morning after that, Ms. Igel knew what to do. And for that extra touch of service and not hesitating a second to go above and beyond, Vielen Dank Frau Igel, you are my eTN Hero today.

 

 

 

 

Travel News | eTurboNews

Italian exhibition group launches key words for the 2020 tourism industry

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Active food and wine tourism, the quality of life, the search for beauty and creativity: the combination of ingredients on which tourists increasingly base their choice of vacation will be at the center of the 2019 expo showcase of TTG Experience, SIA Hospitality Design e SUN Beach&Outdoor Style, the three leading expos dedicated to the tourism chain – respectively focused on vacations, the hospitality sector and that of outdoors and beaches – organized by Italian Exhibition Group, being held from Wednesday 9th to Friday 11th October 2019 at Rimini Expo Centre.

The tourist flow scene confirms positive signs from Italy: in the first eleven months of 2018, with 208.5 million nights’ stay by foreign tourists in accommodation facilities (+1.8%), Italy is in second place in Europe, ahead of France (134.7 nights, +5.7%) and behind Spain (287.8 million, -1.6%). In this context, the three expos, with an unequalled offer for the expo sector, will respond precisely to the tourist trade’s requirements.

TTG Travel Experience

The 56th edition of TTG, is a national and international reference point for the Italian offer for tourists and Italian tourism abroad. The most important B2B tourist expo and the one most attended by tourism professionals will host 130 destinations, in a layout divided into three areas – The World, Global Village and Italy – conceived to highlight all the latest in vacation products.

TTG Travel Experience 2019, with two special projects, will intercept the trends that increasingly influence tourists’ choice of destination: the interest in wine and food and that for active vacations.

223 million euros were spent in 2017 by foreign visitors to Italy on food and wine, 70% more than spending in 2013. With the Eatxperience project at TTG Travel Experience 2019, an entire hall will be dedicated to food and wine tourism with a format conceived precisely for trade members: food service in hotels is also among the opportunities to include in travel proposals.

On the other hand, with a high visual impact, the special Be Active project will feature proposals, opportunities and trends for vacations in Italy, where in 2016 18.6% of the tourists indicated sport as the motivation for their vacation.

SIA Hospitality Design

The expo that is a national reference point for the hospitality sector, SIA Hospitality Design, at its 68th edition, boosts its format linked with design and Italian-made products, addressing three issues that are particularly topical for the hospitality sector: Design (design for hospitality will not only be the first focus of SIA, but also the leitmotif of the entire expo); Water: (bathrooms, wellness and swimming pools, as well as services, technology, products, cosmetics and wellness treatment); Taste (the most important food service moments for accommodation facilities: breakfasts and aperitifs). Each project will have a dedicated arena involving professionals, an exhibition and expo areas.

Sun Beach & Outdoor Style

For decades, the b2b expo that is a reference point for the outdoor, beach facility and campsite worlds, SUN Beach&Outdoor Style, at its 37th edition, has focused on two macro sectors: the beach facility world and the campsite and village show world.

Contests are confirmed, in collaboration with Mondo Balneare, Best Beach Bar, Best Design Beach and Best Italian Beach, to award prizes respectively to the best beach facilities from the point of view of food & beverage, architecture and tradition. All the new products and services on the start-up front will be featured at SUNNext, the space dedicated to innovation, in collaboration with Mondo Balneare and CNA Emila-Romagna.

Travel News | eTurboNews

US Travel: Pulling CBP staff to US-Mexico border can hurt legitimate international travel

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U.S. Travel Association Executive Vice President for Public Affairs and Policy Tori Barnes issued the following statement on Customs and Border Protection’s announcement that it will reassign agents from airports and other entry points to the U.S.-Mexico border:

“The administration rightly points out the importance of security, but we believe security priorities and economic priorities go hand in hand.

“In pursuing its objectives on the southern border, we urge the administration to keep other entry points appropriately staffed and effectively secured. Aside from concerns about migration and border security, it is an immutable fact: travel is trade, and the U.S. economy and jobs base enjoy many billions of dollars in beneficial impact from legitimate international business and leisure visitors to the United States.

“Immigration and visitation are two separate points on the policy spectrum, each important in its own right. The American travel community stands ready to work with the administration to advance policies that are beneficial to both security and prosperity.”

Travel News | eTurboNews