MercoPress. South Atlantic News Agency

Aggressive promotions and solid leadership pays off for the Falkland Islands!

The Falkland Islands Tourist Board Stand at World Travel Mart

The Falkland Islands Tourist Board has been working hard to produce the highest standard of representation for the islands to date. Following a highly successful campaign over the past two and a half years of developing a higher awareness for the Falkland Islands through targeted and high level marketing, promotions and events, have pulled off the most successful of the years promotions.

 Tony Mason, Managing Director of the Falkland Islands Tourist board issued a statement today saying “we have seen outstanding representation of the Falkland Islands in the past year and it’s been a pleasure to take such a beautiful destination to a global audience. What we do today affects the future of the Islands and we know without a doubt we have succeeded in making a huge leap forward in the tourism sector worldwide.”

“Over the past year our programme has been more than successful and I am thankful for the support of my team. Our program has been one that was aggressive in the markets and has required long hours to pull off, but it’s worked!” The country should feel proud of the efforts and big wins we have seen over the past year. When we are away at events we are representing not only the country’s tourism initiatives, but everyone on the Islands. The world’s tourism sector has now taken notice of the Falklands and it’s very encouraging for the years to come.”

During the World Travel Market Event, Mr. Mason and Ms. Middleton (Manager of tourism Operations) attended a reception with Selling Travel Magazine at which the Managing Director of the Magazine presented the award for “Best Destination for Wildlife and Nature” to the Falkland Islands. Mr Mason in a press release to local press and media in the UK said he was extremely pleased that the message was out and that people were taking notice of the amazing and unique wildlife offering in the Falkland Islands! He went on to say the award is one that the Islands truly deserve and he is pleased that such an honour had come to the Islands under his administration.

“The Falkland Islands deserve this award and it’s a shining example of the need for the Islands to keep a high level programme such as the one he is running in place and not lose momentum in the coming months during the switch over to a statutory corporation.

Speaking at the event about the Falkland Islands winning this year’s award Mr. Mason said; I think it’s important for everyone to keep in mind how big winning the Award this year is. We have won over Australia, South Africa, Botswana and most importantly for us the Galapagos Islands and this is huge! Numerous travellers have been coming by this year, because we have won the award, it’s sparked an interest, they want to experience this new destination that has beaten such outstanding contenders and won this award.

“Three years ago when we first took the Falklands to World Travel Market we heard comments such as … where are the Falklands, I’ve never heard of the Falklands and why would I visit the Falklands. This year we have had numerous visitors to our stand and the comments are… we have just booked our holiday to the Falkland’s, we have the Falklands on our radar and are planning to visit, we are coming on a cruise next year and one visitor said he had just booked a tour with Abercrombie and Kent during The WTM event. This is exciting as in only three years we have gone from being a destination few really knew about to one everyone is talking about.”

Mr. Mason also commented that while many would like to politicise the tourism outreach of the Falkland Islands and Argentina at the event, tourism should be kept in a positive light between both countries. Tourists visiting the region should not be caught up in political matters, but should be allowed to enjoy both countries, as both destinations had an excellent and unique tourism offering. Mr. Mason said he would welcome dialogue between the two tourist boards to work together to achieve a positive result in the tourism sector in the coming years.

At Thursday’s event Mr. Mason and the Falkland Islands Representative Ms. Sukey Cameron, MBE hosted an event together during the WTM event with leading tour operators, ministers of tourism from partner countries, press and media.