PRESS RELEASE – THE annual Sandals Overdrive North American and Caribbean Tour came to a successful close, having touched down in over 21 cities including Baltimore, Boston, Philadelphia, Atlanta, Houston, Long Island, Toronto and Montreal. In the Caribbean, the Overdrive event visited Barbados, after previous stops in Jamaica, Grenada and Saint Lucia.
These events are designed to showcase not only the Sandals and Beaches brands and their various and upcoming innovations, but also the wider Caribbean destination, which is ready and awaiting visitors.
The 21 city high-energy trade-show-styled presentations and Unveilings provide an avenue for travel agents to view and gain first-hand information on product updates through direct interactions with senior Sandals and Beaches Resorts executives.
The Unveilings also present the opportunity for the agents to engage with Tourist Board representatives from several Caribbean islands.
Guest Speaker at the Barbados event was the island’s Prime Minister, Ms. Mia Amor Mottley, who shared he enthusiasm with seeing Sandals deepen its investment in Saint Lucia with the construction of a Beaches Family Resort.
“When Beaches finishes in two and a half years I want to be there to see twice the number in this room and to accommodate another Sandals family after another US$450M in investment in this country, and another example of excellence with respect to the Beaches hotel in St. Peter.”
The Barbadian Prime Minister said the government of Barbados saw its partnership with Sandals as an important one as the country seeks to strengthen the economy.
“We recognise that we can’t do it alone and that what we need is each and everyone who believes in what we are doing, and we believe that Sandals believes in what we are doing and we believe that you as individuals in Sandals believe in what we are doing.”
The expos are a long standing tradition for Sandals Resorts and feature personalized presentations each year. Along with highlighting the much-anticipated opening of its latest resort, Sandals Royal Barbados, the unveilings provided a sneak peak of Sandals’ new wedding inspirations scheduled for roll-out later this year.
Gary Sadler, senior vice president of global sales states ‘We recognize that our clients are not sitting and waiting for us. It is therefore necessary for us to go where they are and the best way for us to get them to come to the Caribbean, is for us to promote the Caribbean. We are aggressive about marketing the Caribbean and our Unveilings are doing just that.”