TRAVEL AGENTS STAR AT BAHAMAS AFFAIRS IN SOUTH CALIFORNIA

Bahamas Ministry Of Tourism Wraps Up Successful Sales and PR Mission In South California

Anaheim, CA, April 7 - Travel agents from across South California recently, starred on the red carpet, and took 'selfies' galore as they waited to go into the "Bahamas Affair."

The events, which took place in Burbank and Anaheim, announced to all that The Islands of The Bahamas are back in California.

At the Southern California travel agent event, The Bahamas embraced Hollywood style and featured, a red carpet with a step and repeat Bahamas Banner; a 3D Presentation; a live television style talk show, "The SCOOP", and musical entertainment of The Bahamas' own upcoming pop sensation, Angelique Sabrina. 

The young Bahamas pop princess delighted the agents with a world premiere performance of upbeat songs that were only recently recorded but have not yet been released.

At the Anaheim event, agents were in attendance from Santa Monica, Yorba Linda, Riverside, cities throughout Orange County and even as far away as San Diego. 

At the end of both events, agents expressed appreciation mostly for what they termed, "the creative way" they were educated and entertained.  

An 80 plus-year-old agent summed it up simply, "What a great event!” 

Another agent said that he has been in the business for decades and the trade show and presentation on Wednesday night, "was one of the best ever." 

At the events, The Bahamas Ministry of Tourism used the opportunity to educate its captive audience on the ease of traveling to The Islands Of The Bahamas from, the western state of California.  Bahamas partners from both American Airlines and Delta were a part of the Trade Show portion of the event.

The agents were also educated about all of the new and latest developments in The Bahamas including hotel developments; sporting events and cultural and heritage fests such as the upcoming second Annual Bahamas Junkanoo Carnival Festival - the festival takes place in Grand Bahama, April 15th-16th and in Nassau, May 5-7th.

The shows are a part of a major marketing thrust to herald the presence of The Bahamas Ministry of Tourism's focused re-engagement with travel agents. 

The events have served to renew relationships within the travel agent community.  

The events in California are the latest in a series of similar events that have taken place across Florida and Texas as well as PR and Sales events have taken place along the Eastern seaboard including Washington, DC and Philadelphia. 

The Missions across America have also included a PR component with Media Luncheons taking place in the various markets.  Even as travel agents are being updated to share with their clients, the media is being informed to share with their audience. 

The media luncheon in S. California, took place at West Hollywood's Ago Restaurant and attracted close to 20 media representatives including magazines, newspapers, online news, freelancers and bloggers.

The marketing strategy of the sales component has been orchestrated under the leadership of Bahamas Ministry of Tourism's Senior Director, Sales, Greg Rolle.  The California events were organized by Prescott Young, Area Manager, Los Angeles.

 Young was assisted at the functions by a team of BMOT professionals, led by the country's Tourism Deputy Director General, Ellison 'Tommy' Thompson.  Other members of the team included, Valery Brown-Alce, Sr. Director; Edward Archer, General Manager, Atlanta; Jennifer Gardiner-Bannister, Area Manager, Florida; Mikala Moss, Area Manager,  New York; Donna Mackey, Senior Manager, Florida; Dupree Smith, Manager, Texas; Eureka Glinton, General Manager, Bahamas Film Commission, Los Angeles and Elke Pettiford, Florida. 

The tourism group were joined by their partners in the industry including the Nassau Paradise Island Promotion Board; Atlantis Resort, Paradise Island; Sandals Resorts, Nassau and Exuma; Pleasant Holidays, MLT Vacations and American Airlines.

For more information on The Bahamas Tourist Office, California, call 310-229-5732.

For information on The Bahamas, visit www.bahamas.com