 Entre Nous is the monthly newsletter from the Tourism Corporation Bonaire (TCB), Netherlands Antilles. In this newsletter you will find the accomplishments of TCB in Bonaire, North America, South America and Europe as well as the newest developments within the tourism industry. We hope that you will read it with pleasure and if you have something that you think is relevant for the tourism sector to know just fax it to 717-8408 or e-mail to: info@tourismbonaire.com.
We are also eagerly awaiting the first Delta flight to arrive and will keep you informed as to the progress of our quest for additional airlift to Bonaire to support the exciting and instrumental projects starting soon, among them Divi All Inclusive and Hilton Bonaire Resort and Spa. Bonaire is definitely entering a new era! I would like to take this opportunity to personally wish everyone a wonderful holiday season. It seems like it was just a few short months ago that I was writing the same words! However, I have been very lucky to have been able to be a part of TCB and live and work on Bonaire! Thank you all for everything and I am anxiously looking forward to a banner 2008!To check out new Bonaire Ambassadors. please visit: www.bonaireambassador.com
As you know ‘Books for Bonaire’ has been a
great success. Thanks to Miss M. Croes, new board director of TCB, we
were able to ship all the books to Bonaire before the holidays.
Biblionef Nederland is an organization that promotes the development of children by allowing them to read with pleasure. By doing so, they also help their own community. Biblionef received one of TCB’s press releases and gave ‘Books for Bonaire’ a helping hand with a donation of 440 brand-new books! We are grateful and acknowledge this gesture!
Dutch TV-star and writer Mart Smeets is, as we all know, one of Bonaire's greatest fans. It's no surprise he donated quite some books to the Bonaire Library. But not just that, he convinced his colleagues also to donate some of their books. This initiative gave us a rather impressive growth in volume. TCB's Anne Martin Uildriks was very pleased when Mart Smeets handed gave him the books. Mart, thanks again and also thank you to the other of the aythors.
From January on, TCB will have a monthly add in Holland’s most important dive magazine “Duiken”. This season all the ads in ‘Duiken’ will be done with the new branding according to the Kon ta bai? concept. We put the attention on the items about airlift possibilities, diving, snorkeling and all other activities on our Island.
If Dutch tourists want to go on holiday, they go to Holland’s biggest Vakantiebeurs in Utrecht. The Vakantiebeurs will take place from Wednesday 9 until Sunday 13 January 2008. The exhibition will be open every day from 10:00 – 18:00, on Friday 11 January from 10.00 – 22.00 (opening hours for Friday by reservation). Enjoy many holiday destinations, among them Bonaire! We will have our own booth in which we will join our forces with some participants from the private sector. So again, many visitors will be able to have a preview of the beautiful island of Bonaire. Of course we will create our special event in which we honor our friends who promoted Bonaire the most last year.
In the previous edition of the Bonaire Newsletter we wrote of the online campaign of Menzis. We are now happy to mention this Dutch health insurance company awarded two people with a wonderful trip to Bonaire. This was the final result of an extended online campaign in which Bonaire generated over 16 million hits. We are very pleased Menzis made such an effort to promote our island to quite a large audience.
Also in our secondary market there are a lot of Bonaire fans. To inform them about all the movements and activities on our Island, we send out an E-newsletter every 8 weeks. In the next edition some interesting items will be mentioned. Not only the latest news items like “ Bonaire goes Durable” and “Hilton hotel on Bonaire” but also information about Karnival on Bonaire and questionnaires to help business people on Bonaire will be explored.
Bonaire Present at Chicago & Ft. Lauderdale Scuba Tour Stops Local Bonairean expert Papy Ciclia just returned from the USA where he proudly represented TCB and Bonaire’s participating Scuba Tour sponsors at the NBC Travel Expo at Navy Pier in Chicago and the South Florida Travel Expo in Ft. Lauderdale. In addition to informing potential visitors about the destination, Papy was also on hand to answer questions, provide information about hotels and promote the ease of scuba diving in Bonaire to the participants who were coming out of the pool after trying diving for the first time. Diving in Bonaire was also mentioned several times when The Scuba Pool was highlighted on WMAQ-TV, Chicago’s local NBC affiliate, in segments which amounted to a total running time of 6 minutes and 39 seconds, seen by 355,042 TV viewers, equaling a PR value of $116,950! Diving in Bonaire was again mentioned in a TV segment filmed at the South Florida Travel Expo by WPTV-TV, the local West Palm Beach NBC affiliate, and is scheduled to air as part of the 5 p.m. news on Wednesday, November 28. We’re looking forward to the New Year, and we’re pleased
to announce that Bonaire will again be a sponsor of the 2008 Tour. Here’s
a look at the Show’s on the schedule so far: It’s Almost Here! DEMA’s “Be A Diver” Acquisition Campaign!
As part of the ongoing press release program, Adams Unlimited researches, writes and prepares a steady stream of releases for mailings to the media for applicable editorial coverage based on editorial calendars and the need to disseminate timely news. In November two press releases were written and distributed to the media. The first release featured information about Bonaire’s 2007 Golden Flamingo Awards which were presented to the recipients at DEMA Show 2007. The second press release announced Hilton Hotel Corporation’s plans for the Hilton Bonaire Resort and Spa. We confirmed the press visit of Vernon O’Reilly-Ramesar, who was in Bonaire November 23-25 on assignment to update the Bonaire chapter of Fodor’s Guide to the Caribbean and Fodor’s Ports of Call. We follow up on the press visit of Judith Ritter, who visited the island October 27-November 3 on assignment from Canada’s National Post newspaper (circulation 203,780). Additionally, Judith was gathering information for other publications that she freelances for including NPR, University World News and South China Morning Post, among others. We followed up with Jad Davenport, who visited the island on a press
visit September 30-October 7 on assignment from Sport Diver
magazine (circulation 220,000) to document a group of
astronauts from NASA who were scuba diving in Bonaire. The New York Times (circulation 1,627,062) New York Post (circulation 724,748) Boston Sunday Globe (circulation 562,273) The Miami Herald (circulation 342,432) San Antonio Express-News (circulation 333,902)
Christmas wishes online on its way Indicium’s tiempos de nuevos retos y proyectos Iniciamos novos tempos, novos desafios e projetos. Initiating new times, new challenges and projects Bonaire Tennis Championship in Venezuela
There were three categories at the tournament: Men’s Doubles Women’s Doubles and Mixed Doubles. During two consecutive weekends, the participants played their best tennis to win the Bonaire Cup. The closing ceremony took place with a Bonaire theme with live music from a well known saxophone player. The trophies given to the champions were beautiful “sea stars”. The eleventh edition of the Bonaire Tennis Cup was a complete success. Many give aways were won in raffles among the 90 tennis players, having as main prize two weekends in Bonaire with air ticket included, courtesy of Bonaire Ocean Front and Dutch Antilles Express. Bonaire Tennis Cup will be in the 2008 Venezuelan Tennis Tournament Calendar … in this way Bonaire will continue its promotion among the tennis clubs, a new and productive segment to the island.
A new edition of this event, took place in Caracas on November 20th and 21st at the Tamanaco Hotel. We spent two busy days promoting Bonaire to the tourism sector with travel agencies visiting our booth and receiving general information of the island, hotel packages and connections to Bonaire with Transaven and DAE airlines via Caracas and Valencia. Sandro Nascimento from Arribatur tour operator in Brazil came to Bonaire on Nov 06th to the 10th with his wife on his holidays. During his stay, he went diving and took pictures for the new 2008 Bonaire Diving Calendar to be distributed among the Brazilian diving schools. Venezuela On October 21st, El Universal newspaper highlighted Bonaire on the front page of its Sunday tourism section with an impressive full color picture of the reefs in Bonaire. The article titled “Bonaire, donde disfrutar del majestuoso Mundo Marino”, describes the Bonaire Marine Park as one of the most attractive ones around the World. A complete center page with nice pictures invites readers to visit
the island. The article ended with general information about how to get to Bonaire with the air service of the airline DAE from Caracas and Valencia, gastronomy and accommodation on island mentioning the small properties: Eden Beach, Bonaire Ocean Front, Golden Reef, Coco Palm Garden, Rochaline, Caribbean Club and Happy Holiday Homes. Ecuador The magazine for travel agents “Transport” in its October edition had a two page report on Bonaire as result of the recent press fam on Oct 18th to the 21st. The pristine diving was highlighted under the titles “Placeres Submarinos de Bonaire”. The article features the easy shore diving well identified by a yellow stone along the coast. Windsurfing and kayaking are also mentioned as another fun water activity to try while in Bonaire. In November, Transport published another article about Bonaire. On
this occasion the story told of the recent promotional visit to Quito
and Guayaquil by the Bonaire Delegation. A very successful meeting with
the tourism sector of Ecuador was organized by KLM and the tour operator
Mayortur. Upcoming event in Colombia, Anato trade show! A new edition of Vitrina de Anato, will take place on February 28th
to the 29th, 2008. An excellent opportunity to meet with the diving
and tourism sector again!. A small booth was reserved by TCB.
Note: Jan-Apr Harvest Period (C,E+T) (H)= Holiday Back to the top
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Things are very busy at the TCB office lately. We are seeing the results of our efforts of the past year and as we approach high season, the stats show that the number of arrivals are looking great! The first half of 2007 has increased by 13.8%. Year to date – up to September, the figures are even better with an increase of 14.6% compared to 2006.
Complimenting
DEMA’s aggressive Diver Acquisition Campaign, The Scuba Tour has
been renamed The Be A Diver Tour. As DEMA members, TCB and all of Bonaire’s
resort members will have access to the multi-faceted campaign including
the Promotional Guide, an enhanced website listing, and professionally
prepared TV and radio spots that can be dubbed with your message for
use in your hotel, dive shop or on local TV or radio. DEMA members will
also have access to lifestyle segmentation data (including names and
street addresses) that can be used to target potential customers that
fit the profile of DEMA’s target Customer. The Diver Acquisition
Campaign will be launched in early 2008, so stay tuned for more details
from DEMA coming soon.
November’s
issue of Bonaire EZ News was distributed to our database of consumers
and travel agents on the 27th of the month. The issue featured winter
travel packages from Bonaire’s official North American tour operators.
In
November one press release was distributed on Dive Newswire featuring
information about Bonaire’s 2007 Golden Flamingo Awards which
were presented to the recipients at DEMA Show 2007. The press release
was posted to the site and distributed on November 14. Dive Newswire
is distributed electronically to more than 6,000 dive shop owners, manufacturers
as well as media outlets.
On
dates Nov 03, 04, 10, 11 the Bonaire Tennis Cup was held at the tennis
courts of the prestigious Izcaragua Country Club. More than 90 players
from a select group of the best eight tennis and golf Clubs attended. 
