CARIBBEAN: interCaribbean Airways Now Flying To Dominica, Tortola And St. Lucia

interCaribbean Airways celebrating 26 years of continuous services, has announced new nonstop schedule services from Dominica to St Lucia and Tortola, with 1 stop easy connections via Tortola to St Thomas, St Croix, Sint Maarten, San Juan, Providenciales and Santo Domingo.

Travelers can make two-stop connections via interCaribbean flights to Kingston and Nassau.

Even allowing for two stops this is still one of the fastest travel times in the Caribbean.

interCaribbean has expanded its schedule to new points throughout the Caribbean connecting more of the Caribbean than any other Caribbean Airline.

CEO Trevor Sadler, said:

We are pleased to begin connecting Dominica with our Caribbean, bringing affordable airfares to this latest interCaribbean destination.

We look forward to welcoming Citizens and Residents aboard and adding new connections and cities that Dominica can enjoy.

Mr. Colin Piper. Director of Tourism, Dominica welcomes the new service, stating:

interCaribbean is giving Dominicans new choices to fly to and from Dominica and more connections to more places, the service is very timely and very welcome.

We look forward to the launch and anticipation of service to further islands.


Tourism Observer

ST THOMAS: Spirit To Start Flights From Orlando To St Thomas

On the heels of the launch of new service between Fort Lauderdale and St Croix, Spirit Airlines has announced even more flights to the US Virgin Islands from the Sunshine State.

The Department of Tourism announced that Spirit Airlines will inaugurate service between Orlando International Airport (MCO) and Cyril E. King Airport on St Thomas (STT) with three flights a week on Tuesdays, Thursdays and Sundays, beginning November 8, 2018.

The service augments existing daily flights between Fort Lauderdale and St Thomas.

These new flights represent the fruit of the hard work of our administration to add new service and increase flights to our destination, said US Virgin Islands Governor Kenneth Mapp.

New flights increase affordable opportunities for Virgin Islanders to travel to and from the mainland, while helping our bread and butter tourism industry recover, he added.

Working alongside our colleagues at the Virgin Islands Port Authority, we continue to invest heavily in our airlift development strategy and value our partnership with Spirit as they continue to prioritize travel to and from our territory, said Beverly Nicholson-Doty, Commissioner of Tourism for the US Virgin Islands.

As part of a wider announcement, Spirit will begin offering international service from Orlando International Airport to 11 new destinations in Latin America and the Caribbean, as well as three more domestic routes rolling out through the fall.

The announcement marks one of the largest expansions in the airline’s history and includes service to the US territories of Puerto Rico and the US Virgin Islands.

We have been proud to serve Orlando for 25 years, and after more than doubling service last year, we are so proud to be expanding there yet again, said Bob Fornaro, Spirit’s chief executive officer.

Orlando is now one of our largest markets, and we have no plans on stopping our growth. The region is not only a wonderful, family-friendly destination, but it is well-positioned to now serve as a gateway to the Caribbean and Latin America.

With Spirit’s expanding network, the airline continues to improve its on-time performance and guest satisfaction, while building upon its larger commitment to invest in the guest experience.

The airline recently announced that state-of-the-art, high-speed Wi-Fi connectivity will be installed on its entire fleet by summer of 2019.


Tourism Observer

IRAN: Safest Place In Middle East For Christians

Tehran might not seem like the most obvious pitstop for Santa Claus, but Iranians love the chintzy side of Christmas and it is also one of the safest places in the Middle East for Christians.

The past month has seen shoppers flocking to the Armenian district of Somayeh — the biggest Christian area in the city — to pick up fake trees, and stock up on baubles, reindeer toys and plastic snowmen.

“It’s really interesting and attractive for us,” said Niloufar, a Muslim women in her thirties who was out shopping with her husband on Christmas Eve.

“I love the decorations, the tree. We see it as showing a kind of respect for other beliefs. And of course I like all the chocolates!”

Shoppers line up for selfies with one of several Santas stationed outside stores on the main drag.

One Father Christmas, full of the festive spirit, breaks into an impromptu dance to a popular Iranian pop song playing outside a food stall.

Hamed Davoodian owns a grocery store on the street, and says the community never faces any trouble from the authorities.

“Why should we? (Armenians) have been here for 400 years. They are great to us,” he said, adding proudly that Christians fought alongside their fellow Iranians during the brutal war with Iraq in the 1980s.

“There were 30 to 35 martyrs from our neighbourhood,” he said.
Thousands of Christians have emigrated to the United States and elsewhere, leaving only 120,000 Christians according to the last official count.

Most are Armenian — who are Orthodox Christian — along with a few thousand Assyrian Catholics.
Christians are officially recognised and protected along with Jews and Zoroastriansin Iran!

There are limitations. Converting Muslims is illegal, which leads authorities to crack down on Persian-language Bibles. Services must be carried out in the original language of the ethnic group.

But there are none of those concerns at St Joseph’s Catholic Church in downtown Tehran on Christmas Eve, where it is standing-room only for the midnight mass, delivered in the Assyrian language.

Archbishop Ramzi Garmou believes that Christianity in the region dates back to the second century when St Thomas passed through on his way to India.

Having once numbered in the tens of millions, the Christian community is now tiny, and Garmou says he normally sees only a few dozen for Sunday mass — not least because it’s a working day in Iran and traffic is horrendous.

“But I’ve always said that the strength of the church is not in the number of its followers but the faith they show in their daily lives,” he said.

And he is grateful that Iran is such an oasis of peace in a region beset by war, and in which Christians face mounting persecution.

“Thanks to God, we really live in peace and security, but our neighbours live in anguish and violence. We pray for them tonight,” he said.

NASSAU: Latest Cruise Ship Sails Into Nassau

THE port of Nassau yesterday welcomed the world’s newest mega ship, the Norwegian Escape, as a part of the luxury cruise liner’s maiden voyage, prompting tourism officials to credit the country as the best warm weather destination in the world.

Tourism Minister Obie Wilchcombe, flanked by Deputy Prime Minister Philip “Brave” Davis, led a Bahamian delegation onboard the 20-deck vessel to exchange plaques to commemorate the ship’s inaugural voyage.

Mr Wilchcombe cheered the ship’s arrival as the “eventual next step” in a flourishing relationship between the Bahamas and Norwegian Cruise Lines (NLC).

The luxury line has sailed to the Bahamas for nearly half a century. The Escape now joins the line’s Breakaway and Getaway ships in Eastern Caribbean tours.

Mr Wilchcombe said the inclusion of the ship in the line’s Caribbean market and specifically its stop in the Bahamas certainly signals economic growth for the nation and opportunity for Bahamians.

“Over the years (ships) have come, (they) have brought large numbers to our shores; in fact, (all) that will come over the course of the week, starting today will have brought some 65,000 visitors to the Bahamas this week,” said Mr Wilchcombe.

“We have over the many years invested in causing the Bahamas to be among the leaders in the entire Caribbean, if not in the entire world. We do so by working on what we must, infrastructure is required for the cruise lines; we must ensure that we deliver good service, quality service and, of course, every single day we hope to ensure that we have the peace and hospitality that must prevail in our nation.”

Nonetheless, Mr Wilchcombe said, despite recent triumphs celebrated by the country in the tourism sector, more needs to be done to ensure that the Bahamas remains the best in the region.

Mr Wilchcombe hinted that his ministry was in the process of developing a new, all-encompassing tourism model that would merge more aspects of Bahamian history and culture in an “easy to deliver concept”.

When asked what that meant for the tourist, the West End and Bimini MP said: “They will see us, who we really are – they will hear our story. We will tell the story of our colonial past, tell the story about slavery. We will also tell the story of the new Bahamas – and the story of the old Bahamas.”

He told reporters that this new plan, which is still in its infancy, would feature conceptual changes to downtown Nassau and communities near the area.

The 4,200-passenger Escape represents the largest in NLC’s current 14-ship fleet and the first in its “Breakaway Plus” class.

The ship arrived in Miami on Sunday, hosted a “christening ceremony” on Monday and departed for a three-day cruise to Nassau shortly after.

The Escape will begin regular cruise operation on November 14.

The 164,600 gross ton ship will run weekly cycles from the Port of Miami and destination stops in St Thomas, US Virgin Islands; Tortola, British Virgin Islands; and Nassau.