THIS YEARS World Travel Market (WTM), which took place at the ExCeL, London this week, was the busiest since the end of lockdown.
The fervour for travel seems to be back bigger and stronger, with destinations the world over, using everything at their disposal to entice both business and holiday travelers to their regions.
Following Virgin Atlantic’s announcement last year that they would be launching a year-round twice weekly direct flight service to the Turks & Caicos islands, the Voice headed to the Caribbean Islands stand to speak with representatives from the Tourism Authority the day before the historic inaugural flight.
As anticipated, spirits were high.
Wesley Clerveaux, Permanent Secretary, Ministry of Tourism, Turks and Caicos said: “It’s definitely a new market for us. We’ve had British Airways doing flights twice a week, but the direct connection, makes a difference.
“While we have traditional clientele that travel from the US and Canada, we now want to focus on the European and UK market.
“We’re a British overseas territory and we would very much like British citizens and British nationals to come to the Caribbean.”
In 2021, Turks & Caicos Islands were voted as the Caribbean’s Leading Beach destination by the World Travel Awards. The region was also identified at the same awards as being the Caribbean’s Most Romantic destination.
On their website the tourism authority write that their crystalline turquoise waters and white sand beaches are trademarks to the over forty islands and cays that make up the ‘Beautiful by Nature’ Turks & Caicos islands.
Considered the world’s best kept secret with the latest developments, the cat is well and truly out of the travel bag.
“I guess coming out of Covid is a good place to start,” Executive Chairman for Turks and Caicos Islands Airports Authority Selvyn Hawkins said when asked how the region intends to move forward over the next few years.
“Coming out of Covid, in terms of the region and tourism, we picked up much faster than anyone else.
“In fact, when we opened we had the good problem of an excess of passengers coming in that we could actually handle.
“Where our airport is built to handle 300 thousand passengers a year, right now we are doing about 700 hundred thousand.
“And we anticipate over the next 30 years that we are going to need a facility to handle two million annually. Those are the projections. It’s growing.”
Hawkins said the ‘tourism package’ that’s offered has been the winning element behind their recent success.
“We’re not mass tourism, we’re luxury tourism”, he explained.
He added: “One of the benefits to not being that well known is that we have been able to observe the rest of the Caribbean, learn from their mistakes and then take advantage of the lessons that have been learned.
“So we’ve been able to tailor a niche market that works.
“It’s not about mass volume, it’s about the quality of the product and the quality of the passengers coming in.”
Keping covid prevention protocols in place even when other relaxed theirs, helped to foster even more confidence in what the islands have to offer, says Hawkins.
But what is exactly that the Turks & Caicos islands have to offer?
Admittedly bias in her assessment that all of the fun is to be had in the part of the island where she grew up,Turks and Caicos Islands’ Minister of Tourism, Hon. Josephine Connolly, enthused: “Tourism is out biggest employer on Turks & Caicos, 80 per cent of our GDP is derived from tourism.
“We are a multi island destination. Providenciales is the most developed but we have other islands which are trying to showcase now.
“There is something for everyone to do on the island, all of them are different, very unique.
“I am from Salt Cay, I’m a salt Cay girl. It’s the best place to go whale watching and it was the home of the salt industry.
“You also have South Caicos where they have the fish industry. If you like lobster it’s the season right now.
“Also, Grand Turk is the capital of Turks & Caicos Islands and they have a lot of historical buildings. It’s the cruise capital, they can accommodate two ships a day because we have a massive port. Some days we have seven to nine thousand visitors on the island of Grand Turk.
“Over in North Caicos we have all of our limestone caves there and we also have a beautiful beach called Mudjin Harbour, you go to go there.
“I must say, we have been voted as having the best beach in the world since 2015.”
Connolly added: “One of our biggest events for travelers is our Fish Fry. You get to taste all of our savoury dishes, experience dancing and local musicians and plenty of good stuff.”
Looking ahead to the influx of new visitors to the region over the coming years, Juha Jarvinen, chief commercial officer at Virgin Atlantic, said: “We’re delighted to begin flying to the Turks & Caicos islands, as we continue to grow our Caribbean portfolio, offering more choice for our customers to explore these beautiful islands and enjoy some winter sun.”
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