The Tobago Tourism Agency Ltd. led a delegation from Tobago to attend the 2018 Birmingham Dive Show in the United Kingdom, as part of ongoing efforts to market destination Tobago through development of the island’s growing diving niche.
The island of Tobago was well represented at the event, which was held on October 27 and 28 at The National Exhibition Centre Birmingham, with a delegation that comprised of local diving professionals with a combined dive experience of over 50 years. This included representatives from the Environmental Research Institute of Charlotteville (ERIC), Tobago Dive Experience, and Undersea Tobago, who utilised their attendance at the event to generate bookings for their businesses on the island.
The Tobago stand at the event hosted presentations on diving in Tobago, with officials from the Tobago Tourism Agency Ltd. conducting critical on-site market research to gather information from, and about, diving niche enthusiasts.
Diving has been identified as one of the core attractions of destination Tobago to stimulate arrivals, and a key objective in the Agency’s road-map for growth of Tobago’s tourism industry is to increase visitor arrivals to the island for dive related activity. To position destination Tobago as a premier diving destination within critical source markets, the Agency has been partnering with major niche-specific operators and interest groups, and attending trade and consumer events such as the Birmingham Dive Show in the UK.
Organised by Britain’s best-selling diving magazine, DIVER, the Birmingham Dive Show attracts hundreds of exhibitors offering the latest diving holidays, training courses, and dive gear, and is visited by thousands of experienced and aspiring divers from the UK and Europe- the largest source market for divers to Tobago.
Destination Tobago is a prime location for divers seeking new and unusual dive opportunities. The island’s geographic location ensures that it is fed year-round by the nutrient-rich Guyana currents, while the combination of Atlantic and Caribbean waters and varied underwater topography means that there are over 50 stunning dive sites suitable for novice to advanced divers and snorkelers.
Marketing Coordinator at the Tobago Tourism Agency Ltd., Ms. Sheena Des Vignes, represented the Agency at the Dive Show along with Mr. Stephen Smith, Sales and Marketing Manager, UK.
Ms. Des Vignes stated, “There are over 50 million certified divers in the world today, and these are individuals who specifically travel the globe for the purposes of scuba diving. Diving is a natural sell for Tobago because of the assets that we have in terms of the diversity of marine life, range of diving sites, availability of highly trained diving instructors, and the presence of a hyperbaric chamber. Historically it has always been a strong niche, so we just have to ensure that we keep abreast of the curve and create avenues for our stakeholders within the industry to create new business opportunities on the island.”
Following up on the successful attendance at the Birmingham Dive Show, the Tobago Tourism Agency Ltd. will lead a delegation from the island to attend DEMA Show in Las Vegas in November 2018, hosted by the Diving Equipment & Marketing Association, to engage with source markets in the United States of America.