MARIGOT/PHILIPSBURG:--- The L’Association des Hoteliers de St. Martin, Saint Martin Tourism Office in conjunction with the St. Maarten Tourist Bureau and St. Maarten Hospitality & Trade Association launched their first ever Sint Maarten / Saint Martin Regional Trade Show (SMART) movie. The two-minute clip, created by local artists, serves as an invite to the event starting at June 14th and as a 21st century opening of "Early Bird Week" for buyers and suppliers joining the best-visited Tradeshow of the Northeastern Caribbean.
The annual SMART event is organized by the tourism boards and hospitality representatives of both sides of the island. The tradeshow provides a unique opportunity for local and regional hoteliers and activities providers to present their tourism product, network and negotiate prospective business opportunities. During the tradeshow, travel partners and wholesalers, as well as hotel and excursion operations, come together for one-on-one discussions on potential business ventures.
The SMART 2017 movie was created by a team led by French side artist Tremore Donovane based on research done earlier into what attracts tourists to the island. The movie shows scenic on-location recordings of both sides of the island as well as various spectacular views from the air.
Donovane was one of the Sint Maarten / Saint Martin creatives invited to show their talents at last year's Crystal Pineapple awards event. By means of the invitation, local creatives were offered various platforms to show how large the on-island potential is to create 21st-century campaigns. With its vital function for the tourism economy of both sides of the island and beyond, the binational partners see SMART as one of the highest platforms thinkable for young talents like Donovane.
Key elements of his movie were results of brainstorms and inquiries into what makes Sint Maarten / Saint Martin stick out as a destination for recurring tourists.
Next, to its ubiquitous Caribbean culture, the fact that Sint Maarten provides for two countries as well as additional supporting cultural influences was mentioned often as a "Cosmopolitan and multinational" strong point.
By means of this Caribbean but the diverse background, the complementing Dutch and French sides offer a wide palette of feelings and flavors. Its resulting culinary "Cornucopia" of culinary options and likewise range of drinks is widely seen as another unique selling point.
The same variety accounts for the wide offer of entertainment. Whether day or night, land or water, both sides of the island provide for plenty of activities.
The variety of things to do is further amplified by a fourth characteristic of the location of the island marked by very different landscapes, as well as by its strategic hub location for Northeast Caribbean operating airlines, yachts and cruise ships.
According to the predominantly Western tourists visiting Sint Maarten, its long-standing experience in tourism has made both sides apply to the standards they are used to in their countries of origin. Last but not least, according to interviewees, this professional attitude has been consistent over many decades.
The six selling points portrayed are just some of the many the island provides to tourist organizations to be displayed at SMART, hosted at the Westin Dawn Beach Resort Casino and Spa from June 14th-16th. Next, to worldwide buyers and Sint Maarten / Saint Martin hotels, many other regional destinations and hotels make the event not to be missed. The invitation movie can be found at https://youtu.be/RAFGr3axPFc.
Early Bird Registering for SMART can be done at www.Shta.com/Smart until May 8.
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