14 March 2013
BVI House, the London home to the British Virgin Islands Government and British Virgin islands Tourist Board was the idyllic setting to officially launch the BVI agents training programme, Nature’s Little Secret Agents on Tuesday 12th March 2013. The evening was two-fold as it was also the perfect opportunity to formally welcome Sharon Flax-Mars to the Tourist Board as the new Director of Tourism. The event brought tour operators, travel agents and industry partners together with the entire Tourist Board team and various BVI property representatives providing a chance to catch up with familiar faces and find out how the new BVI training programme will work.
A short introduction from Russell Harrigan, Chairman of the BVI Tourist Board officially welcomed Sharon Flax Mars as the Director of Tourism and he promptly introduced her to the room. Sharon took this opportunity to give an insight into her past, her early start in the tourism industry as a 7 year old dish washer at her father’s hotel and her vision for the future of the BVI. Proud of the steps taken so far she is excited to see what can be done and to get the ‘Brits back in the BVI’. Ginny Hawksley, Manager of the BVI Tourist Board in London followed and before describing the Nature’s Little Secret Agents programme in more detail shared the exciting news that all tour operator’s sales to the BVI have increased over the last 8 months, notably ITC Classics who have increased sales by an impressive 145% since 2011. Ginny attributed this to all the hard work the travel agents have been putting in.
