Travel Agent - August 6, 2007 - (Page 14)

Vital Signs News You Can Use the new $120 million resort, spa and residential development. In addition, Simmonds assists the local communities through Island Outpost’s charitable Oracabessa Foundation as well as the Mary Vinson Foundation. Veteran Bermudian hotelier Robin Gilbert has taken the reins as the new general manager for 9 Beaches (www.9beaches.com), the island’s ultra-casual hotel. Gilbert was one of the first graduates of the Bermuda Hotel School. After spending several years in the hotel business in Bermuda, he transferred to London for three years in a management development program before moving to Kenya as general manager at Jadini Beach Hotel. He returned to Bermuda three years later to work at Cambridge Beaches and later purchased the Palmetto Bay Hotel on the island. Just prior to joining 9 Beaches, Gilbert was the general manager for Coco Reef Hotel (formerly Stonington Beach), also in Bermuda. —Joe Pike New Moves in the Caribbean and Bermuda It’s been a busy week as far as personnel changes for Caribbean hotels goes. Here are some of the notable changes for agents stay up to speed on. Caneel Bay, a Rosewood Resort (www.caneelbay.com) on St. John, has announced the promotion of Nikolay Hotze to managing director. Trained in Europe, the United Kingdom and the United States, Hotze is responsible for leading and developing the management Nikolay Hotze (left) and Nick Simmonds (right) team at Caneel Bay, as well as representing the Caribbean retreat. wood Resort in Sunny Isles Beach, FL. Hotze told Travel Agent, “I want to get Island Outpost (www.islandoutpost. out there and use every opportunity to com) has named Nick Simmonds director meet the travel agent in person They of operations. Managing director want to know that on one hand everyof the Goldeneye Development in thing at Caneel Bay is staying the same, Oracabessa, Jamaica since September but on the other that we are doing as 2006, Simmonds will now also oversee much to improve our offering to the all operations for the collection of guest in the way of our product and Jamaican boutique properties. service offering.” As managing director of Goldeneye, Hotze spent the two-and-a-half years Simmonds is responsible for setting up prior to his arrival at Caneel Bay as all of the future operational resort activhotel manager of Acqualina, a Roseities, including the construction phase of Israel Launches Its Largest Ad Campaign Yet Late last month, Israel’s Ministry of Tourism (www.goisrael.com) launched an $11 million advertising campaign in the United States that will run through December. Spread over a variety of media, including network and cable TV, as well as national and trade magazines, the ads are specifically targeted at travelers in New York, Florida and southern California to encourage looking at Israel as more than just a religious destination. Meanwhile, the ministry also is making a push to agents in the form of online seminars and activities. “For years we neglected the agent and then we realized that they are the backbone of the industry,” says Arie Sommer, consul tourism commissioner for North and South America, at a press event held in New York recently. “We want to equip them with the materials they need about Israel so that they know how to sell it.” Furthermore, Sommer noted that the ministry contracted consulting firm Ernst & Young to conduct a special survey in eight countries about interest in traveling to Israel, which found that the United States is the prime market—and so the ministry hopes to double its tourism numbers by 2010. “Doubling is a very difficult job, but we are confident that we can do it,” he says. While Israel is largely a group destination, that is changing, Sommer shares, as travelers desire a more authentic experience from Israel. “Visitors come back and say, ‘I just feel different,’” Sommer says. “So that’s where the slogan, ‘Visit Israel: You will never Fishing in Jaffa feel the same,’ came from.” The advertisements feature real Israelis—not models, Sommer stresses—like a dancer on the beach in Tel Aviv, a chef in Jerusalem and a cowboy on the Golan Heights. Says Sommer, “Our best asset is our people and we found that Israelis have interesting stories to tell.” —Jennifer Merritt 14. TravelAgent August 6, 2007 http://www.caneelbay.com http://www.9beaches.com http://www.islandoutpost.com http://www.islandoutpost.com http://www.goisrael.com

Table of Contents Feed for the Digital Edition of Travel Agent - August 6, 2007

Contents Editor's Letter News You Can Use Cover Story - Passports and Visas: What Clients Should Know About Them EUROPE: Capella Debuts Two Properties This Year LAS VEGAS: The De-Theming of Luxor HAWAII: Four Seasons Resort Maui at Wailea Renovates CENTRAL & SOUTH AMERICA: Cruising the Panama Canal Lavishly CARIBBEAN & BAHAMAS: Bahamas’ Grand Isle Resort & Spa News and Notes Meet the U.S.V.I.’s Tourism Commissioner CRUISES: Defining Regent Seven Seas HOTELS: InterContinental Harbor Court Baltimore Agent Exchange Luxury Travel Expo Update Ad and Edit Index Classified Marketplace People & Places

Travel Agent - August 6, 2007

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