NEWS ROUND-UP IN THE PICTURE: Sweet Symphony
Amy Hayler was the winner of Royal Caribbean’s latest competition to win a place on its newest ship, Symphony of the Seas, at this year’s Travel Weekly Globe Travel Awards. The Travel Industry Services agent was chosen for her
performance of Under the Sea. Hayler changed the words of the song and made it all about Symphony of the Seas and held up images of the ship. Agents had been asked to submit their own symphony to win a place on the pre-inaugural sailing. DJ Trevor Nelson judged the entries and revealed the winner
saying: “I am honoured to have been the celebrity judge. Amy’s unique and playful entry had that extra sparkle.” Hayler will be among 100 agents joining Nelson for the two-night sailing in Barcelona in April. Hayler, centre, is pictured with Nelson and Royal Caribbean sales director Amanda Darrington. › Globe Travel Awards photo special, page 57
NEWS IN BRIEF
Thomas Cook to host 30 indie agents on Florida fam
Thomas Cook is giving away 30 places to independent agents on its first mega-fam trip to Florida on April 15. Agents can earn one entry in the draw by booking a Cook, Airtours, Manos, Club 18-30, Thomas Cook Signature charter holiday or Thomas Cook Airlines flight-only by February 28. Package sales to Florida will qualify for two entries. Agents will stay at a Universal Orlando Resort hotel and winners will be notified in March.
Barrhead Travel opens first agency in Northern Ireland
Barrhead Travel has opened its first store in Northern Ireland. The Scotland-headquartered agency chain has taken over a unit in Belfast’s Victoria Square shopping centre.
Williams becomes head of marketing at Fred Olsen
Ben Williams has been promoted by Fred Olsen Cruise Lines to head of marketing. He steps up from his current role of e-business manager on March 1. Williams joined the cruise line in 2012 as e-business executive and previously spent six years as a marketing executive for the Gray Dawes Group.
Caribbean operators faced ‘jittery’ calls over Jamaica
Ben Ireland
ben.ireland@
travelweekly.co.uk
Caribbean operators received a “flurry” of calls in response to the Foreign Office (FCO) updating its Jamaica travel advice after a state of emergency was declared in one area of the island.
But Caribtours and Sandals
reported no cancellations, while Jamaica’s tourism minister described media reaction to the FCO advice as “sensationalised”. A handful of Sandals guests
opted to move resorts away from Montego Bay, which falls into the St James parish that was subject to a military operation to tackle gang violence including shootings. Paul Cleary, managing director of Caribtours, said: “We had a jittery couple of days on Friday and Saturday, when we received a flurry of calls. We have a couple of hotels in the area that customers were due to travel to. “We offered them the chance to
move but after we’d explained the facts, people thought about it and
8
travelweekly.co.uk 25 January 2018 BARTLETT: ‘It’s an overreaction’
stuck to their initial decisions.” Unique Caribbean Holidays,
UK tour operator for Sandals and Beaches Resorts, said “two or three” guests moved resort but none cancelled. A spokeswoman said: “Agents should reassure their clients that the British government has not advised against travel to Jamaica”, adding that the FCO advised travellers only to limit
movements outside of resorts and at night.”
She said Sandals or Beaches
staff were on hand to give advice to agents. Cruise line Royal Caribbean
International said its itineraries went ahead as planned, with ships calling at Falmouth, which is about 30 miles away. A spokeswoman said safety was “always foremost in our minds”. Cleary said Jamaican authorities
were “perhaps naive” in thinking there would be no media reaction to declaring a state of emergency, despite Jamaica’s minister for tourism, Edmund Bartlett, calling some reports “bizarre”. Referring to media reports,
he told Travel Weekly: “It’s an overreaction. It really has not affected, in any serious way, the tourism activities on the island. The beaches are full and the attractions are humming. “The level of advisory did not merit the kind of sensationalised outbursts we saw. Level two is pretty much saying ‘go and enjoy yourself, but be careful’.”
PICTURE: STEVE DUNLOP
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