Wales Tourism and Visit Planning

Interview: Emanuel Schreibmaier, VP Sales & Marketing Sol Meli Hotels & Resorts Americas Division

Holiday In Wales This year CHIC will be hosted in one of the most rapidly developing areas in the Caribbean, Punta Cana in the Dominican Republic. The event aims to be a relaxed convention with the primary goal of allowing the media to meet the hoteliers. The event will be hosted at the Bávaro Convention Center which is one of the largest convention centers in the Caribbean and Latin American area. Host hotels include the Paradisus Punta Cana, part of the Sol Melia group. Caribbean-Weekly spoke to Emanuel Schreibmaier, VP Sales & Marketing Sol Meliá Hotels & Resorts Americas Division about his company, the future of the Caribbean and Fishing!

The Resort is set amidst over 600 acres of beautiful parkland, a grade 1 listed 17th century stately home. The Resort offers world class facilities. A luxurious 143 bedroom, four star hotel, 2 championship golf courses including the much talked about Wales National, plus Wales' largest health spa, dining in both formal and casual surroundings and exceptional sporting facilities nearby. Cardiff, the Capital City of Wales with its arts, historical attractions and exceptional shopping is a 9 miles (14km) drive away from the hotel.

Holiday Wales

As vice president of marketing and customer care for Canon Computer Systems, Inc., Bergman spearheaded the development and implementation of Canon's U.S. printer and computer peripherals business strategy and marketing plan, resulting in sales growth from zero to $1 billion in four years. Prior to joining Canon in 1992, he was director of product management for Epson America, Inc., where he was responsible for marketing and product planning. Bergman was also vice president, consumer marketing for Print Technology Inc., and served as a product manager at Atari, Inc.

Cottage Holiday In Wales CW. How long have you been present in the Caribbean? ES. Weve been in that market for 12 years.

Disputes over Hamburg Mountain stem from the state's sale of 1, Great Gorge resort, a transfer that came with deed restrictions to keep the land undeveloped. Over the years, legal battles erupted over resort plans for mountaintop camping and golf, and again after Intrawest purchased and renamed the resort in 1997. In December 2000, scale development to take place over 10 to 15 years. class tourist destination, with 1, 600 units of townhouses, condominiums and hotels, a mountaintop golf course and up to 200, 000 square feet of retail space in three villages at the 2, acre resort.

Caravan Holiday In Wales CW. Are you primarily an all-inclusive company? In the UK Sandals have the strong hold on advertising, how do you intend to gain a larger percentage of the UK market? ES. We have a mixed operation: business, leisure hotels and all-inclusive resorts.

The Austin office will be home to the sales, marketing and IT operations for Rockwell Trading, creating new jobs in all of these divisions. “Our business plan pointed to 2007 as the year we'd expand rapidly, ” said Heitkoetter, “and in order to [map to our strategic growth initiative] scale properly, we had to find [needed] a workspace and hire [a talent search to attract] the best people in sales, marketing, IT and operations.”

Camping Holiday Wales CW. How many properties do you have in the Caribbean, and which is the most successful in terms of booking figures? ES. There are eight in total with The Meli Caribe Tropical, Punta Cana being our strongest.

St. Director of Tourism Since 1998 Mr. Peter Hilary Modeste has served, as the Director of Tourism of the St. Lucia Tourist Board. President of the St. Lucia Hotel & Tourism Association, Mr. Modeste has been employed within the tourism sector for a number of years. He was educated at the University of Wales and is married with three children. A former Minister of Education, Mr. Modeste has served on a number of national organizations including the St. Lucia Development Bank.

Accommodation Holiday Wales CW. For Caribbean-Weeklys readers who are unfamiliar with your company could you please explain a little? ES. Sol Meli Hotels & Resorts is one of the worlds most successful hotel companies with its four brands Meli Hotels, Tryp Hotels, Sol Hotels and Paradisus Resorts, with more than 350 hotels in more than 30 countries worldwide. Sol Meli s 2003/2004 expansion plans include new properties in Brazil, Puerto Rico, Mexico and throughout Asia Pacific and Europe

Holiday Last Minute Wales Do you believe that the upsurge in online booking is aiding your companys bookings figures? Are you in favour of further development in this area or do you prefer customers to have the assistance of a travel agent? ES. Yes, we agree. But we continue to fully support travel agents, who represent 70% of all of our bookings.

Catering Holiday Self Wales CW. What booking system does your company utilise? ES. We have our own, SolRes and we are also connected to all 5 GDS.

Holiday Wales Walking CW. Have you noticed any trend towards last minute booking patterns? ES. Yes, every year the rate has become more intense.

Family Holiday Wales How have the recent tourism crisiss (War in Iraq, SARs), affected your companies performance in the Caribbean region? ES. Very little. All of our properties are right on budget.

Holiday Riding Wales CW. Sol Meli Sol Melia, in a recent press release, stated that: Sol Meli aims to be a highly responsible company, understanding that the social and economic development of local communities is ultimately beneficial for the business. Community involvement must not be seen as a new obligation, but rather as a medium term investment and opportunity that will, in due course, create greater value for company shareholders. During a recent CMEx conference in Jamaica, (Caribbean Media Exchange), the subject of sustainable tourism was addressed. Do you feel that this company notion will assist with sustaining tourism in the regions where your company is established? ES. Yes, absolutely. We have shown in the past that we are very involved with the local communities and that we protect the environment. Weve received several awards such as The Green Hotel (CHA) in addition to other recognition by several organisations such as the Smithsonian, Audubon Society etc.

Adventure Holiday Wales CW. Do you feel that community involvement is beneficial to both parties, or more so for the company from a marketing perspective? ES. Absolutely. Sol Meli has been one of the founding members of the CHACT.