Tourism, Organisations & Operators,

This spring, Nash County North Carolina is taking a new approach to travel marketing targeted towards 20-30+ year olds and that generation’s obsession with reality dating shows. While this approach may seem out of left field, it is based in research and creativity.The campaign’s focus is to connect with singles within a 100-mile radius to drive overnight stays to the county as a destination for leisure travel while highlighting various locations throughout the county that make ideal dating locations.
Digging into information on this audience, research showed that more single women than single men were coming to the area,” said Barbara Green, Nash County Tourism Director. “Even with the odds in their favor, a lot of guys were still having trouble finding ‘the one.’ From these facts, a campaign was born to help encourage the visitation of Millennials and Generation X to the county for overnight stays.”
Further insight identified that Nash County is home to the largest craft beer incubator in the state. That fact alone pulls in a younger demographic to try new beers each week.
The Nash County travel campaign is called “I’m Still Looking.” It follows a guy named Jim Green, who has been unlucky in love. Jim is a frequent visitor to the area, but has yet to meet “the one.” The campaign allows the audience to meet Jim; then, it asks the internet to help find him a date. Every other week the campaign will release a video of Jim’s latest date. Between dates, the campaign will feature bad date videos and stories submitted by the public, dating surveys, information on places to take a date. Jim’s grandmother even makes an appearance reading and reacting to fan comments. How will it turn out? Who will he choose? Tune in to find out at imstilllooking.com when the campaign concludes mid-April.
Explore Nash County, the travel and tourism department for Nash County, partnered with travel marketing company Wonder Guides, Greensboro, NC, to create the ground-breaking campaign. The videos will be progressively released on the Explore Nash County social media pages, and on the campaign website imstilllooking.com.ADVERTISEMENTExplore Nash County partnered with Koi Pond Brewing Company, at Rocky Mount Mills, to create a custom “I’m Still Looking” beer dedicated to the campaign. The beer features an image of Jim Green with the call to action to help find him a date. A QR code on the can takes users to the landing page for the campaign at ImStillLooking.com. The beer will be released to the public in March 2023.
The campaign videos currently released can be viewed at: www.imstilllooking.com
For additional campaign content follow Explore Nash County on Facebook at: www.facebook.com/Explore.Nash.County.

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The Sangster International Airport in Montego Bay, Jamaica is undergoing significant modernization designed to transform it into a world-class facility. Business interests and stakeholders say this is expected to result in the airport’s repositioning to be on par with corresponding facilities in developed countries.
They cite the programmed US$70-million runway expansion, opening of the world’s first Bob Marley (One Love)-branded restaurant, expansion of the immigration hall and departure lounge, and upgrade of outbound security, landside roads, and parking arrangements as developments that can potentially compare with any of those at the top airports globally.
“When the dust is settled on all of these projects, we are talking about [comparisons with] Heathrow, Atlanta, JFK, Qatar, Dubai… you name the airport,” Senior Strategist/Adviser in the Ministry of Tourism, Delano Seiveright said.
“When guests fly [into Jamaica] from wherever they are coming, there will be that ‘wow’ factor. MBJ Airports Limited must be commended for… the tireless work… and the vision to make this possible. That Bob Marley One Love restaurant and the runway extension will be something else.”
MBJ Airports Limited is the operator of Sangster International Airport, which connects Jamaica with more than 60 international destinations.ADVERTISEMENTA record 4.7 million passengers used the airport in 2019, prior to the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic.
Chief Executive Officer of MBJ, Shane Munroe said the plan is not only to modernize, but to also make the airport so aesthetically appealing that it will assume the characteristics and flair of an attraction.
Munroe notes that with Sangster International Airport being Jamaica’s busiest gateway and the number-one airport in the region, the onus is on MBJ to keep raising the bar, thereby creating seamless ease of travel for visitors.
“There are other works being undertaken to modernize the Sangster International Airport and provide a seamless experience for passengers. Several projects are scheduled to commence this year to further improve the infrastructure at the airport,” he said.
“These include the expansion of the immigration hall to increase queuing and processing capacity, and the construction of a lounge for air-to-sea passengers to provide a dedicated arrivals space for landing procedures and coach transfer to the cruise ship pier. Additionally, several improvements will be made to upgrade the landside road and parking infrastructure to increase capacity.”
Munroe shared that the runway expansion works are on schedule and are expected to be completed by June 2023.
He noted that the extension will allow for the establishment of Runway End Safety Areas (RESAs), in keeping with the requirements of the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO), and improving safety in that area.
Sangster International Airport, located east of Montego Bay, has been named the Caribbean’s Leading Airport by World Travel Awards for 14 years.
Source: www.caribbeannationalweekly.com

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Destination Canada, the national tourism organization, introduced its new global brand strategy to put Canada on the map as the destination that inspires openness. This new brand strategy will be unveiled through a series of traditional and unconventional marketing initiatives that aims to increase Canada’s competitiveness as a destination and drive international high value guests to visit Canada.The disruption caused by the COVID-19 pandemic forced bold choices and new ways of marketing the destination. Canadians represented 8 out of 10 tourism dollars spent last year, a formidable contribution to the recovery. With these domestic travellers set to exodus this Spring for international travel, Canada needs to fill the gap and bring back international travellers, especially from the US, Canada’s largest inbound market and biggest opportunity for revenue recovery.
“Our valued guests want more than a travel experience – they want a space for growth, enrichment and true transformation,” says Gloria Loree, Destination Canada’s Senior Vice-President, Marketing Strategy & Chief Marketing Officer. “In a world that makes us feel trapped, Canada’s unique blend of openness helps us break free. It’s Canada’s open spaces, open hearts and open minds, that offer the space that travellers crave and will help us as a nation brand stand out in the fiercely competitive travel marketplace.” 
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This bold brand ambition is pushing Destination Canada to embrace unique ways of engaging a global audience. Through a first-of-its kind partnership with TED, Destination Canada is creating a global conversation about openness. Through masterful storytelling by remarkable Canadians, they are encouraging new conversations about the destination, and pushing people to rethink what they already know about Canada. These TED Talks were filmed today in New York City and will be published on TED.com starting in the Spring. Destination Canada will share with its key leisure markets, as well its Business Events markets.
“TED’s mission of Ideas Worth Spreading is perfectly aligned with Destination Canada’s theme of Openness – we are thrilled to offer the TED stage as a place for extraordinary Canadians to share their ideas with the world,” says Lindsay Levin, Head of Partnerships + Impact, TED.ADVERTISEMENT“From breathtaking outdoor landscapes to authentic Indigenous experiences to incredible urban and culinary journeys, Canada’s openness and inclusiveness make possible the memorable experiences that people carry with them for the rest of their lives,” says the Honourable Randy Boissonnault, Minister of Tourism and Associate Minister of Finance. “There’s no doubt Canada is the place to visit, any time of the year, and we welcome you with open arms!”
Destination Canada unveiled its new brand positioning with a campaign that invited Americans to take a new kind of leave – a Maple Leave and escape for a stress-free vacation to Canada. Destination Canada also launched its Open If You Are campaign in the US which challenges certain myths and misconceptions that are stopping guests from thinking about Canada as a long-haul travel destination and aims to inspire, surprise and immerse travellers in Canada’s experiences, as well as its unique blend of openness.
Additional brand campaigns will be launched throughout 2023 as Destination Canada finds new ways to invite guests to experience Canada’s open spaces, open hearts, and open minds.

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Yvette Keller is a lifelong fan of the British writer, Douglas Adams, best known for the 5-book, science fiction humor “trilogy,” The Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy.The Santa Barbara, California-based writer now invites Adams fans and London tourists to experience all things Adams through a new literary guide, “Douglas Adams’ London,” published by Herb Lester Associates. Pre-orders are now available at www.herblester.com with a ship date of March 11, chosen because it is Adams’ birthday.Adams lived and worked in London for decades. “Douglas Adams’ London,” is a hitchhiker’s guide to 42 places (chosen honor of Hitchhiker’s reference to the ultimate answer to life, the universe, and everything) drawn from the reality and fiction of Adams’ life. On one side, a stylized map pinpoints relevant sites across London. On the reverse, detailed information about each site spotlights its significance to the author.
From Shepherds Bush to Highgate, the map leads tourists along the streets that Adams knew and cared about, noting the rampant development of his beloved Islington, “Grim concrete monoliths, eyeing the new spaces in Upper Street where they hoped to spawn their horrid progeny.” Expressing the timeless joy Adams referred to Hyde Park as, “stunning except for the rubbish on Monday mornings.”
Keller’s pilgrimage to walk in Adams’ footsteps began very simply. It began with her 42nd birthday and a book, one she is writing to share her experiences with other fans. “By exploring the meaningful places in Adams’ life, you start to see how reality and fiction came together for him,” Keller explained. “Character, setting, and author, intersect with reality, and, as Douglas said, ‘If you’re going to set it in London, you may as well set it where you live because you know it. There’s no point in setting it in Putney if I’ve then got to get a bus down to Putney to see what the layout is.’”
Ben Olins is the director at Herb Lester Associates. He was intrigued by how real and imagined worlds overlap. So, to explore real places from the work of an author best known for Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy was, in his words, “irresistible.” The publisher is no stranger to literary maps. The company’s “guides to the unexpected,” include Agatha Christie’s England, Occult Paris, and New Orleans Good Times.
ADVERTISEMENT“One’s first thoughts of places included in a galactic travel guide don’t include the north London estate agents and residential streets. But places he (Adams) knew are used throughout his books,” Olins said. “In charting all of that, I hope we bring to life the world Adams inhabited, and in doing so perhaps bring readers closer to a writer they admire.”
Those who pre-order the Douglas Adams’ London guide directly from Herb Lester Associates have an opportunity to order a set of six coasters gathered from fictional pubs and clubs across the Hitchhikers universe. (Check out the author’s unboxing video here.)
While supplies last, they will also receive a seventh, exclusive beer mat from Milliways – The Restaurant at the End of the Universe. The guide will be available to fans in the United States beginning April 15. For more information, or to order, visit www.herblester.com.

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WTTC reacts to statement from the Presidency of the EU Council on easing restrictions for travellers from China to the EU
After a prolonged period of post-pandemic disruption, we welcome the latest statement from the Swedish Presidency of the EU Council, to facilitate easing restrictions for travellers from China, to the EU.
This is an important step forward for EU economies.
It will be a major boost to businesses across the Travel & Tourism sector in the region, as well as for families and friends reconnecting and society generally returning to post-COVID normality.
In 2019, before the pandemic, nearly 10 million Chinese tourists visited the EU with inbound revenue worth US $12.2 billion, creating jobs and boosting regional economies. The return of Chinese travellers to the EU is very welcome.ADVERTISEMENT

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New research looking at Publicly listed companies has revealed that the leisure industry is facing a major diversity disparity, with only 7% of the top spots held by women, a stark contrast to the 50-50 gender balance of the overall workforce. The first report of the series, “The numbers behind women in leadership: Leisure”, which was carried out by private advisory firm Aptamind Partners and is supported by the World Travel & Tourism Council (WTTC),drew on publicly available data from the world’s largest hotel groups, casinos and entertainment companies, shows that the gender gap widens the higher up the career ladder you climb.
From a 50% overall balance across the leisure industry’s workforce, the percentage of women drops to 42% in mid-level management and 33% at senior management.
At C-Suite level, only one in five executives are women, plummeting to 7% at the very top.
The casino and entertainment industry outshines hotels, with three female CEOs and four female chairs, but the competition is far from stiff.
A marginal improvement in the percentage of female executives in the hotel sector has failed to translate into more women in leadership and senior roles.  In fact, Alison Brittain, who was the sole female representative in the CEO group at the time of this report, left her position in January 2023, leaving major PLC hotel chains with zero women holding the top CEO and chair spots.     However, the report shows that change is possible and can be clearly seen in the percentage of women on the boards of leisure companies, which has grown from 17% in 2007 to 28% in 2022. More recently, the number of female chairs of the boards of casino and entertainment companies has grown from 6% to 12% between 2019 and 2021 ‒ and the number of female CEOs in that group increased from 3% to 9% over the same period. ADVERTISEMENTAradhana Khowala, CEO of Aptamind Partners and author of the report, says, “While some progress has been made in the last two years, there is still a huge amount of work to be done. We need a wholesale shift in the way we think and talk about gender and leadership. And we need to go beyond well-meaning initiatives and box-ticking exercises and start taking concrete steps to redress the current imbalance.
“One of the major barriers to improving gender diversity is the lack of insightful and robust data in the public domain. We cannot wait any longer for the arc of history to bend the right way on its own. We need to benchmark where we are at so we can push forward together with concerted, collective action.”
Julia Simpson, President & CEO WTTC, added: “This issue goes beyond equity and fairness. Companies need to hold themselves accountable to guarantee progress is made over time.
“Putting women on centre stage of Travel & Tourism will ensure a better future for the sector.”
The report offers six steps the leisure industry can take to get more women into leadership positions, including better disclosure and regular reporting, independent regulation and verification, and incentivizing and holding leadership accountable for progress on gender diversity.
The report is the first of a series of four publications which analyse the female presence at high-level roles within different Travel & Tourism industries, such as leisure, aviation, cruise and OTAs, and food and beverage.

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In the last few decades Vietnam has risen rapidly to become one of the world’s leading golf destinations. Just a decade ago, it was named as “Undiscovered Golf Destination of the Year” by the International Association of Golf Travel Operators. Just five years later, it was honored as “Asia’s Best Golf Destination” by the World Golf Awards. After two more years, in 2019, the World Golf Awards honored Vietnam as the “World’s Best Golf Destination.” Till 2020, there are about 80 golf courses in operation throughout the nation, and at least a third are of international five-star standard, attached to luxury resorts. The total number of golf courses is expected to increase to 200 by 2025, with at least 300,000 players including Vietnamese, foreign expats, and travelers.
Golf in Vietnam continues to grow at a rapid pace – in 2019, Forbes magazine estimated that it is the fastest-growing golf market in the world. New courses are being regularly built by world-famous designers. The climate of the country is perfect for year-round games, and the landscape is stunning enough on its own that designers need to merely collaborate with nature to produce stunning vistas.
Year-Round Games – Golf Weather in Vietnam Every month of the year offers a perfect golf holiday somewhere in the country.
Vietnam is a long and thin country, a 3,260-kilometer coastline and diverse terrain with 3/4 being hilly. The mountainous north, the thickly-jungled central highlands, and the tropical south offer topographical variety for golf courses and a 12-month playing season.
November to April are the perfect months for playing in the north, when the weather is dry and cool. Head to central Vietnam, where the weather is cool and dry from February to May. Ho Chi Minh City and the rest of Southern parts in Vietnam, where the weather remains stable, it’s a perfect destination to have year-round games. Head up into the highlands like Dalat for cool mist and mountain breezes. ADVERTISEMENTThe temperature is consistently warm year-round in the tropical south. The wet season is May through November, but typically this means a few hours of cooling heavy rain that quickly dissipates into blue skies.

Best Golf Courses in VietnamThere are courses scattered through every region of Vietnam.
Some of the best are on the coast, in cities like Danang. Hoiana Shores, designed by Robert Trent Jones Jr., features undulating dunes much like a links golf course, but with ocean views that seem to melt into the sand. Danang Golf Club and Montgomerie Links are two other worthy courses in this coastal city.

The Dalat Palace Golf Club in the highlands of Central Vietnam is the only course in Asia built with bent grass greens, fairways, and tee boxes. This particular grass – perfect for golf courses due to its density and ability to be closely mowed – grows best in cooler weather, and no other destination in Vietnam offers quite such a hospitable environment.

Perhaps the biggest part of what makes Vietnam’s golf tourism industry internationally competitive is the presence of world-famous golf course architects. Greg Norman has designed numerous award-winning courses throughout the country – the aforementioned Danang Golf Club is one of these.

The Bluffs Ho Tram Strip might be considered Norman’s Vietnamese masterpiece. In a tiny fishing village called Ho Tram, about an hour and a half southeast of Ho Chi Minh City, this course has been voted the “World’s Best New Golf Course” at the World Golf Awards.
The Bluffs is designed on a coastal plateau, with holes routed through sand dunes up to 50 meters tall. The layout undulates through elevation changes, with spectacular views across the East Sea from almost every hole. The Bluffs is attached to a luxury resort and leisure complex called The Grand Ho Tram, which features a casino and a beachside restaurant.

Also designed by Greg Norman is the KN Golf Links course in Nha Trang. This too makes use of the natural undulations of sand dunes. Every tee allows for sweeping views of the hole as well as the surrounding landscape. The course is beautifully designed and maintained, with grassy fairways smoothly harmonizing with bunkers and sandy wastes.
Hanoi offers one of the most exclusive golf clubs in the nation. Designed by Peter Rousseau, the 18-hole par 72 Van Tri course integrates water at most holes as well as complex dog-leg designs for challenges. Exclusivity guarantees low foot traffic, so the course is always in immaculate condition.
Just 45 kilometers away from Hanoi’s city center, the Sky Lake Resort and Golf Club has been awarded as the best championship course in Vietnam and the fifth best in the country. The club features two courses designed by a Korean architect, Ahn Moon Hwan. The Lake Course is long and exceptionally challenging, while the beginner-accessible Sky Course runs through pristine forest. The 36-hole resort is mountainous with spectacular viewpoints of an enormous natural lake, perfect for whole families to enjoy a holiday.

Vietnam is Asia’s Best and the World’s Best Golf DestinationIt isn’t only locals and tourists that recognize Vietnam as a brilliant golf destination. Vietnam has repeatedly won international awards for its excellence in golf tourism.
The 9th annual World Golf Awards took place on November 15, 2022 in Abu Dhabi, where Vietnam took the title as “Asia’s Best Golf Destination” for the sixth consecutive year. This win is remarkable next to competitors like Thailand, which has long been recognized as a superb golf tourism destination; Japan, with its more than 2,000 spectacular and elite courses; and Korea, where golf is so wildly popular that courses are built next to each other to handle the sheer volume of players.
Not only has Vietnam claimed the title for the region for six years running, but it’s also been named the World’s Best Golf Destination in both 2019 and 2021. These two recognitions are a high honor from the World Golf Awards, which celebrate and reward excellence in golf tourism as part of the World Travel Awards.
The victory is a real testament to Vietnam’s momentum in the industry, and a sure marker of the growth that’s still to come.

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HM Málaga) Minister of Tourism, Hon. Edmund Bartlett (2nd right) and Deputy Mayor of the City of Málaga, Spain, Jacobo Florido Gomez (2nd left), shake hands following the signing of a communiqué to facilitate cooperation in areas of tourism and human capital development between Jamaica and the Spanish city. The signing took place on Global Tourism Resilience Day, February 17, and formed part of the Global Tourism Resilience Conference, which was held from February 15-17, 2023, at the University of the West Indies (UWI) Regional Headquarters in Kingston. Sharing in the moment are the Ministry of Tourism’s Permanent Secretary, Jennifer Griffith (right), and Minister of Tourism, Cayman Islands, and Chairman of the Caribbean Tourism Organization (CTO), Hon. Kenneth Bryan.
The historic Global Tourism Resilience Conference, which was held from February 15-17, 2023 at the University of the West Indies (UWI) Regional Headquarters in Kingston, Jamaica, ended with a major declaration recognizing the importance of building tourism resilience to safeguard the sustainability of the industry globally.The declaration, among other things, formally recommends the establishment of a global tourism resilience fund to support tourism-dependent nations in periods of disruption. The fund was proposed by Minister of Tourism, Hon. Edmund Bartlett as global tourism stakeholders and policymakers commemorated the first official Global Tourism Resilience Day on February 17.
Outlining the ‘Kingston Declaration for Tourism Resilience and the Future of Tourism,’ Mr. Bartlett as host minister listed three recommendations adopted in the Kingston Declaration:
“1. To reignite global South – South relations using tourism as the driver beginning with Africa and the Caribbean and thereby promote mutual understanding, cultural exchange and sustainable economic growth in the tourism sector.
2. To establish a global tourism resilience fund that will provide support to individual destinations in responding to their own crises and disasters. Each country will manage their own Tourism Resilience Fund and employ the fund to enforce its tourism resilience, thus guaranteeing the sustainability of international travel and tourism.
3. To urge labour markets to reignite recovery that does not leave the tourism workers behind.”ADVERTISEMENTThe declaration outlined that the COVID-19 pandemic would always serve as a stark reminder “of the indispensable necessity to build tourism resilience” and that despite its reputation for being a highly resilient segment of the global economy simultaneously the industry would always be vulnerable to various internal and external shocks.
Also, having been actively engaged in promoting tourism resilience in the Americas, Africa and the Middle East, the work of the Global Tourism Resilience and Crisis Management Centre (GTRCMC) “revealed an urgent need to consolidate learnings and build resilient strategies that will enable us to prepare for the next major disruptions to the travel and tourism space,” the Minister noted.
The recommendations came out of the conference participants’ deliberations and recognition of the challenges facing the tourism industry and the importance of building tourism resilience.
In the closing session of what Minister Bartlett and others hailed as a very successful conference it was disclosed that the 2024 conference would be held in Málaga, Spain, which signed a communiqué with Jamaica’s ministry of tourism.
The signing of the document which encompasses various aspects of tourism development, has been described by Minister Bartlett as “a momentous occasion for us here in Jamaica and the Caribbean,” being the first time that an agreement of this nature has been formalized.

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