With Theresa Storm
02NOV07
Travel agents attending the Carribean Tourism Conference wave hello from
the new Puerto Rico Convention Center
L – Janis Braithwaite-Edwards, director
of tourism, British Virgin Islands,
presents door prize to Canadian agent Denise Hernandez
Sleuthing For Lone Canadian Agent At CTC-30
Like Sherlock Holmes, I searched high and low – no mean feat in the new airport-hanger-sized San Juan Convention Center – to find Canadian travel agents attending the 30th Caribbean Tourism Conference (CTC-30), held last week in Puerto Rico by the Caribbean Tourism Organization (CTO).
Nada.
A mystery, indeed.
Two days after touching down, I’d asked most everyone. Even cutie-petutie Fernando Abreu, CTO’s deputy director of marketing, in charge of the agent program, didn’t think any of the 115 agents hailed north of the 51st.
Then, at Monday’s agent/press brekkie hosted by BVI, I spotted her -- a beaming woman wearing an orange “Puerto Rico Travel Expert” ribbon. It was Denise Hernandez, senior travel consultant with Carlson Wagonlit Travelbest in North York. I rushed to her side and learned that yes, indeed, she was the one and only Canadian agent.
“Why?” I implored. Perhaps because there are no longer CTO Canadian chapters, she offered.
But clearly, she was pumped to be here. In the biz for 12 years and last in Puerto Rico four years ago, she was getting lots out of it, “especially the personal touch of being here to learn the product. When you’re here, you can sell it better.”
The next evening at the rummy Bacardi fiesta, Denise and Fernando stole the floor with a riveting salsa, clearly not first-timers to this HOT Puerto Rican dance.
Yes, Denise confided, “I’ve brought groups here to the Puerto Rico World Salsa Congress.”
With a mojito in hand, she added, “I don’t want to miss any CTC’s after this.” Next year, however, she hopes to be joined by some Canadian kin.
© Open Jaw