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Zeina Gideon, President of Air Canada Vacations, stands with Senator Ricky Skerritt at the launch event on October 27. |
Basseterre, St. Kitts (October 31, 2011) – To promote St. Kitts & Nevis as part of the Air Canada Vacations winter program, Minister of Tourism & International Transport Senator Ricky Skerritt led a delegation from St. Kitts & Nevis to join President of Air Canada Vacations Zeina Gedeon and other top executives from Air Canada and Air Canada Vacations at a launch event for the new service in Toronto on Thursday, October 27, 2011.
“I’m extremely pleased to welcome this new non-stop flight,” said Minister Skerritt. “Canada is a key source market for visitors to our destination and I’m confident that the inclusion of St. Kitts & Nevis in Air Canada Vacations’ program, will be mutually beneficial. The launch event has highlighted our new partnership, which I hope will include expanded service in the future.”
To celebrate the launch of the new service, Air Canada Vacations is offering 5,000 bonus Aeroplan® miles per member on air, hotel and transfer packages to St. Kitts & Nevis booked between November 1 and 30, 2011 for travel from January 1 completed by March 31, 2012. The offer is applicable to customers only and is subject to availability at the time of booking. Additional terms and conditions apply. For additional details as well as applicable terms and conditions, consult the Air Canada Vacations brochures or www.aircanadavacations.com. For terms and conditions of the Aeroplan® program, consult www.aeroplan.com.
St. Kitts & Nevis is a new destination being offered as part of Passion, Air Canada Vacations’ 2011/12 Caribbean and Mexico Collection. Air Canada Vacations is part of the network of Air Canada, is the 4th largest airline in North America in terms of destinations served. Air Canada will begin service to St. Kitts & Nevis on December 23, 2011 for the peak winter 2011/2012 travel season which ends in April 2012. The weekly non-stop flight will operate from Toronto on Fridays and will be the island’s only non-stop commercial flight from Canada, effectively making the twin island destination a more viable winter destination choice for travelers from this key North American market.Air Canada flight AC1778 will depart Toronto (YYZ) at 8:40 a.m. and arrive into St. Kitts’ Robert L. Bradshaw International Airport at 2:40 p.m. every Friday.
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(L to R) John Allen, Consul General, St. Kitts & Nevis; Zeina Gideon, President, Air Canada Vacations; Alphonso O’Garro, Chairman, Board of Directors of the St. Kitts Tourism Authority; Carolyn James, Director – Canada, St. Kitts Tourism Authority; Nino Montagnese, Vice President of Sales and Marketing, Air Canada Vacations; Brad Richards, Sales Representative – Canada, St. Kitts Tourism Authority; Senator Ricky Skerritt, Minister of Tourism & International Transport, St. Kitts; at the launch event on October 27. |
The same-day return flight AC1779 will depart St. Kitts at 3:40 p.m. and arrive into Toronto at 8:00 p.m. Air Canada will use an Airbus 319 aircraft with 108 Economy Class seats and 12 Business Class seats for this flight. All flights are listed in local time. Reservations will be handled exclusively via Air Canada Vacations and their associated travel agencies. The launch event was held at the Pantages Hotel in the city’s prestigious Yorkville district. Over 50 travel agents who are preferred partners of Air Canada Vacations and approximately a dozen members of the media were in attendance.
Executives and officials from St. Kitts & Nevis as well as Air Canada Vacations educated the crowd about the twin islands as a tourism destination, presented various deals and special offers being offered by Air Canada Vacations, and conducted a random drawing gave one lucky attendee a free trip to St. Kitts & Nevis, including two round trip executive class tickets on Air Canada and a one-week stay on the twin islands. In recent months, St. Kitts was named a top destination for 2011 by both AOL Travel and British Airways.
Located in the northern Leeward Islands of the Caribbean, St. Kitts offers a diverse tourism product developed from the destination’s natural beauty, cultural heritage and rich history. The island’s stunning variety of tourism attractions include hiking through the tropical rainforest, riding the scenic railway that connects the island’s former sugar plantations, visiting the Caribelle Batik factory, touring Brimstone Hill Fortress National Park, the only man-made UNESCO World Heritage Site in the Eastern Caribbean, and the more traditional vacation pastimes such as watersports, golf, shopping, tennis, gourmet dining, gaming at one of St. Kitts’ two casinos or simply relaxing on one of the island’s sandy beaches. Accommodations range from intimate plantation inns to larger hotels or resorts.