At the annual destination symposium sponsored by the St. Thomas-St. John Hotel and Tourism Association Monday, those in charge of the territory’s tourism will provide an overview of where the industry is and where they hope to take it.
The day-long meeting was to open with remarks by association president Richard Doumeng. Also on the program were presentations by Tourism Commissioner-designate Rafael Jackson; the government's national advertising agency, Oglivy and Mather; and its publicity firm, Martin Public Relations.
Gov. Charles W. Turnbull was scheduled to give the keynote address at mid-morning, with a presentation by Doumeng and association executive director Beverly Nicholson to follow on the organization's marketing initiatives.
The feature event of the afternoon was to be a tour operator/hotelier marketplace. A screening of the territory's new television ads, which began airing on March 26 in major U.S. markets, was also on the program.
The event was billed as a forum to attract the territory’s primary travel industry partners. Major sponsors for the symposium are Virgin Islands Telephone Corp., Travel Weekly, The West Indian Company Ltd. and the hotel and tourism association.