Q & A whit Sanders LangeveldSales Manager for Holland-based INTERREPS Company

by Jose Carlos de Santiago

The INTERREPS Co. runs and represents hotels in Aruba, Curacao, St. Maarten and a number of Latin American nations, targeting the MICE segment as one of its top priorities.

The latest edition of the EIBTM fair paid off for the company, as put by Mr. Langeveld in this exclusive interview with Caribbean News Digital.

Q.- What do you make of the Spanish market and its possibilities to get into Aruba?

A.- I believe Aruba has great possibilities in the future as far as the MICE segment is concerned, even though that particular niche needs a further development. Aruba is in for an action plan to max out the possibilities that the congress and incentive market has to offer in Europe. And of course, Spain will definitely be one of the markets to keep in the crosshairs.

Q.- How many hotels do you represent, not only in Aruba but also in the rest of the countries?

A.- We represent a couple of hotels in Curacao, a hotel in St. Maarten, three in Aruba and all of the SuperClubs resorts for the Dutch and Belgian markets. In all, we stand for seventeen hotels in Cuba, the Dominican Republic, the Bahamas, Jamaica, Curacao and Brazil.

Q.- What do you think of the EIBTM fair? What benefits has it brought to your company?

A.- Our hotels have had a magnificent opportunity in this fair to showcase themselves. We´ve held very interesting talks and have managed to round up somewhere between five and six incentive groups for 2006 and 2007. For us, that´s a major success. You can never know for sure whether a particular offer is going to play out, but the truth is we´ve made lots of contacts.

Q.- What concrete advantages does EIBTM bring to your company compared to other similar events, like IMEX, for instance?

A.- I think Aruba is in a much better position here (at EIBTM) to advance its MICE segment. I guess that´s what´s going on right now. If you really want to make the local MICE segment move ahead, you need to attend as many events as you possibly can. In terms of groups, there are many companies zeroing in on this niche because, as you know, November is an action-packed month, I mean, for groups. As April and May close in numbers begin to dwindle a tad and many people turn to visits, instead.

So, you need to attend two to three fairs, maybe try to be at the two of them. If you ask me straight up, I must tell you it´s important to attend both fairs. For instance, in 2004 I attended the IMEX fair. However, agreements and perspectives here at EIBTM were much bigger for us. We cannot establish a comparative ground because Aruba didn´t attend IMEX 2005, though we´re planning to be at next year´s events in Frankfurt. Then we´ll be in a position to draw a comparison between the two of them.