From February 19 to 23, the Tourist Office took part in a major promotional tour, crossing Canada from Montreal to Vancouver, via Toronto then Calgary. A roadshow orchestrated by Atout France, France's tourism development agency.
North America remains the leading source market for Saint-Martin and Canada is a source of very significant growth in recent years. More than 25.000 passengers were welcomed at Juliana airport in 2023, thanks to the country's four major airlines serving the SXM destination: in high season, the rotations offered by Air Canada, Air Transat, WestJet and Sunwing offer a total of 7 weekly frequencies to Saint-Martin. A potential which requires, on the part of the Tourist Office, to maintain maximum visibility in this market. As part of the “Destination France” operation, Atout France positions partner institutions interested in this market in Canada each year. From February 19 to 23, it was Sacha Bresse, USA/Canada promotion manager at the Tourist Office, who was responsible for presenting Saint-Martin to a wide selection of Canadian travel agents and professionals. Alongside Martinique, Saint-Tropez, the Occitanie Region, the Pyrenees, the Château d'Amboise, Club Med and around twenty other French tourist operators, the representative of the Tourist Office hosted the Saint -Martin to promote our destination in the heart of the four largest cities in the country.
Four stops, from Quebec to British Columbia
Montreal on the 19th, Toronto on the 20th, Calgary on the 21st and Vancouver on February 22: this Canadian roadshow was rich in opportunities for the French representatives who came to promote themselves to the invited travel advisors and tour operators. The opportunity for the Tourist Office to cover several cities in Canada in a single trip and to take advantage of the Atout France network in order to meet a selection of professionals able to market the Saint-Martin destination. The Tourist Office then continued this solo tour to meet with several Vancouver travel agents and media. The objective was to optimize promotional actions on the west coast of Canada, a very promising market in search of new “sun” destinations. In total, more than 70 Canadian travel professionals discovered everything that makes the Friendly Island so charming. An essential action which made it possible to develop relationships with these service providers, to communicate on new offers and to encourage the scheduling of stays.
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