The St Vincent and the Grenadines Tourism Authority (SVGTA) has appointed Palma & Partners as its trade representation and public relations agency for the UK and Europe.
The two-year contract, which started on 1 November, marks a new approach for the SVGTA, which has historically run a satellite office in London.
The office has now been dissolved and Palma & Partners will be the SVGTA’s point of contact for all travel advisors, tour operators, consortia, OTAs and wholesalers, as well as media.
Palma & Partners is led by industry veteran Jules Ugo (pictured left), who launched the company earlier this year after 17 years of leading communications and representation agency Lotus.
The agency will aim to build and deepen trade partnerships, roll out multi-channel campaigns and the SVG Travel Advisor Certification programme through webinars and training, host familiarisation and press trips for top-producing stakeholders and relevant media and manage the press office.
SVGTA CEO Shafia London (pictured right) said: “The UK is one of our most important source markets, and Europe holds real potential for growth.
“Our ambition is clear: to grow arrivals and visitor spend in a way that is responsible, sustainable and benefits every community across our islands.
“Palma & Partners brings the trade relationships and media reach we need to convert interest in St Vincent and the Grenadines into bookings, working with airlines to build more airlift, with tour operators to strengthen our programming and presence, giving travel advisors the knowledge and confidence to sell our islands, and providing media the stories to write about them.”
SVGTA is aiming for 8% to 15% year-on-year growth from the UK and Europe.
