Visiting U.S. Travel Agents say Grand Bahama’s Uniqueness Will Market Well in Northeast Region
Agents hope to expand bookings to the island
FREEPORT, Grand Bahama – 22 February 2022 – Four travel agents from the AAA Northeast Travel Team visited Grand Bahama 16 -20 February in anticipation of marketing the destination to future clients.
Chrystal Bethell, Bahamas Tourist Office (BTO), Sales Coordinator for the U.S. northeast region, facilitated the trip and accompanied the agents who travelled from New York and Rhode Island.
During the familiarization trip, the group travelled across the island from east to west, experiencing all things Bahamian including sampling Bahamian staples such as cracked conch, grouper fingers, and fried snapper along with peas and rice. The agents visited Paradise Cove and swam with the turtles and did a snorkel dive with some fun and friendly sting rays. While touring the island, they also stopped at Grand Bahama Nature Tours where they rode on ATV four wheelers, then switched gears to a jeep tour safari of the island’s scenic locations such as Millionaire Road and Taino Beach.
Bethell explained the agents were top-level management executives with direct influence on travel advisors in their region. “We wanted to do an influencer style trip where these team leaders can sell their team members on Grand Bahama Island.
“We know that Grand Bahama Island still needs a little more love and we wanted re-engage the agents in that area, welcoming them in style with an itinerary that they can present to their clients in their region,” said Bethell.
Brooke Vergelna, Assistant Manager for Travel Partnerships, Northeast, revealed that this was her first trip to Grand Bahama and said that her agency has plans to market the island in a particular way to bring in future clients.
“I’ve never been out of the country,” said Vergelna, “This is my first international trip, so this is very exciting for me in general, and I’m especially thrilled for the ATV Ride we experienced earlier.”
Vergelna said, “We have 6.2 million members, and we send probably 250,000 persons traveling per year, so we would like to make sure The Bahamas is the number one destination that we are sending our travelers to. The Bahamas already holds the privilege of being one of the top destinations anyway.”
She added, “The Bahamas is always top of mind, and a lot of clients are already familiar with the wide-range of offerings in Nassau; however, I want to increase our bookings to Grand Bahama.”
Echoing Vergelna’s comments, Bethell said she is anticipating an upturn in sales, and hopes the agents can sell The Bahamas, specifically Grand Bahama.
