ABACO TOURIST OFFICE UPDATE
by Kendy Anderson & Wynsome Ferguson
Sorry to have missed you last month. We include some of the material from
August to keep you in touch.
Crossing Rocks Association held its second Annual Home-Coming from 15th-17th
August which turned out to be a great success. Officially opening this
event was the Member of Parliament for South Abaco Mr Robert Sweeting.
As a result of this event some 175-200 persons from Nassau and Grand Bahama
in particular came to Abaco. They had activities such as a cultural and
fashion show, basketball and volleyball, games of chance and the bouncing
castle, which the kids really enjoyed, and a whole lot of native food and
drinks.
Great Guana Reef Resort will soon have its first four villas completed.
The owner of the property, Mr Robert Osborn, says that they expect to be
opened by November of this year. At the completion of this project there
should be a total of 39 villas.
Sam Lewis, a journalist from Travel Weekly which is one of the main weekly
magazines within the travel trade of the UK, visited Abaco on 21st August.
Ms Lewis had the opportunity to visit Marsh Harbour and Hope Town. She
has already written a four page article on The Bahamas even though she
had never been here. The purpose of her visit was to get maximum coverage
of the Out Islands for her next article on The Bahamas.
Karen Seymour and Michelle Adamson of BTO London came to Abaco on a familiarisation
trip on 21st and 22nd August. While visiting Abaco they were able to see
Marsh Harbour, Green Turtle Cay and Treasure Cay.
Nassau Paradise Island Express Fam Trip took place in Abaco on 26th August.
There was a total of seven travel agents along with Mr Cecil Rose from
BTO Dallas. This group had an opportunity to visit Marsh Harbour, Dundas
Town, Murphy Town and Casuarina Point.
The Great Abaco Triathlon took place on 30th August. This year's event
had the largest number of participants ever, a total of 133 from the US,
Europe, Peru and The Bahamas. The highlight of this year's event was the
Awards Presentation and Kalik Beer Party. This was a perfect opportunity
for the visitors to interact with our local Bahamians. The Abaco Tourist
Office organised a fashion show for the occasion featuring local Bahamian
prints.
Five BTO Los Angeles staff were in Abaco from 6th-8th September on a familiarisation
trip. They visited Green Turtle Cay, Treasure Cay, Casuarina Point, Marsh
Harbour and Hope Town.
Abaco Goombay Fever ended on 26th September. In talking with some of our
visitors and locals, this event will be greatly missed. They also indicated
that with this being the off season with some hotels and restaurants closed,
Goombay could not have come at a better time as it was something to look
forward to on a Friday evening.
Plans for the All Abaco Regatta are well under way and looking good. The
Abaco Tourist Office is playing a major role as both Kendy and I sit on
some of the various committees. The Abaco Tourist Office has produced a
Hotel Directory Listing for all hotels and rental homes on the island for
the Regatta Committee. We were able to get discounted rates during the
time of the Regatta. This Directory is to be distributed throughout the
entire Bahamas.
Paulo Veloso, Director of Tours for Journey Latin America, visited Abaco
from 4th-6th October. Mr Veloso is interested in bringing the Out Islands
into the Journey Latin America brochure as a two-centre holiday with South
America. He had an opportunity to visit Marsh Harbour as well as Hope Town
while on Abaco.