The “HISWA te Water” boat show was held in Amsterdam last week and with more than 200 exhibitors it can undoubtedly be deemed a success. The St. Maarten Heineken Regatta partnered with the St. Maarten Tourist Office to promote the island and the event, and they were in fact the only destination and event to be represented during the event. Promoting St. Maarten while enticing the visitors with regatta information proved to be a winning combination and hundreds of attendees stopped by the St. Maarten booth during the show.
St. Maarten Heineken Regatta promoted at 'HISWA te Water' boat show - Photo by Heather Tackling
Thousands of visitors made their way through the maze of booths daily and were greeted by a very professional set up, lots of smiling faces and most importantly, lots of warm sunshine. The regatta organization offered several incentives to passersby with the hopes of enticing them to participate in the 2014 St. Maarten Heineken Regatta which takes place March 6-9, 2014. In addition to past participants being able to win new 2014 regatta gear, by turning up in their “historical” gear, they were also eligible for a free registration to the event by signing up at the stand, and confirming their entry to the 2014 regatta. Several boat show visitors did just that, and confirmed their participation and earned themselves a free entry.
Booth attendees were also eligible for a 2014 regatta shirt by “checking in” to the regatta stand on Facebook. All winners from this past week’s boat show contest will be announced in the coming week and contacted by the regatta itself. Regatta enthusiasts who did not make it to the boat show can still be a part of the fun, more campaigns and promotions will be held in the coming months. Follow the event on Facebook and Twitter for details. Anton Van de Koppel from On Air Media, who manned the booth for the entire week, said “We had a team of 9 people organizing the regatta stand at the boat show, which was located at one of the main public routes. Numerous people stopped by to tell us about their experiences with St Maarten and/or the Regatta and lots of former entries were given the latest information about the event. This has proven to be an excellent step in the growing collaboration between the Tourist Board and the St Maarten Heineken Regatta.”
Bart Schuller, representative of the St.Maarten Tourist Bureau mentioned that “The cooperation between the St. Maarten Tourist Bureau and the St. Maarten Heineken Regatta at the HISWA te Water Boat show was very successful; this strong combination reinforced each other and attracted many visitors to the booth. We could inform the visitors about the island as a fantastic maritime destination, as well as the opportunities to be part of the exciting St. Maarten Heineken Regatta.”
The St. Maarten Heineken Regatta is the largest sailing event in the Caribbean and is proud of its diversity in participants as well as the range of classes that it offers to those racing in the event. “The fact that a regatta this size can cater to the largest of high end racing boats as well as the simple live aboard family vessel that just wants to have a good time, is what makes this event unique” said regatta director Michele Korteweg.
The opportunity is there for each and every level of sailor to have a great time out on the water, from the match racers to the Melges lovers, the racing catamarans to the performance racers; this regatta offers it all, because basically, sailing is what we do! explained Korteweg. A big thank to the crew, Dionne, Jirja, Bart, Lydia, Marloes, Sven, Hidde, Martijn and Anton for the hard work they have put in to make this happen.
