LIAT and Vincy Mas

The Carnival Development Corporation (CDC) is working along with the Leeward Island Air Transport (LIAT) Company and the SVG Tourism Authority to see what they can do to improve air access into the country during the 2011 Carnival season.

Speaking at a press conference on Monday March 28th which was held at the CDC’s office in Victoria Park Chairman of the CDC Dennis Ambrose said that air access is one of the weakest links, “in our ability to boost our arrival numbers”. He said that in addressing this issue, the CDC has been working with LIAT to add more flights into the country, “to ease the congestion at the usual hubs and to reduce the travel frustration and anxiety that typically goes with trying to connect and make it into St. Vincent and the Grenadines ”. He said that the June/July Carnival season is a very critical time for travelers who try to enter SVG, “and we cannot over emphasize this so we looking to work with LIAT to achieve a better outcome”.

Minister of Culture Frederick Stephenson who was also at the press conference said that he is glad to hear about new flight arrangements with LIAT.

He revealed that during his working experience as a Customs Officer he observed persons having serious problems in relation to receiving their baggage on time, “so I am glad to hear about new flight arrangements by LIAT so I hope that this year we can see some improvement”. He also stressed that he is in full support of the new initiatives that have been introduced to help improve the festival.

“It Important that we continue to place emphasis on Carnival as it is the greatest show we have; we should all take it seriously so that we can continue this cultural art form”, said Stephenson.

Meanwhile, Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of the SVG Tourism Authority Glen Beache said that every year the Tourism industry markets Vincy Mas as the festival with a difference. Describing Vincy Mas as the second largest carnival in the Caribbean, “and the only one that comes close is Trinidad ”, Beache said that the Tourism Authority continues to look at new ways to market the Vincy Mas product. He said that they have had proposals from American, European and Trinidadian companies to help with the marketing and they are currently trying to get the Vincy Mas name to people who have never experienced the event before. According to Beache, promotions will be ran during the Vincy picnic in Toronto and Caribana 2011 while the Authority is looking at inviting overseas DJs, “to help get the name out there”. He stressed that advertisements on channels like the American based CBS are very expensive with proposals ranging between US$142,000 to US$152,000 yearly. He added that while some persons may say that we should advertise with these US based stations, it is not sometime appropriate for us as the ads do not touch the entire US. He further stressed that the Caribbean counties that do advertise with these stations have their ads paid for by the various tourism stakeholders and not the government.

“We are better suited to advertise in Trinidad and Tobago and Barbados”, said Beache who added that the Tourism Authority is not really about marketing to locals and persons in the Diaspora but to foreigners in an attempt to get them to visit the country.

12,04.2011 - Story by Lyf Compton