St. John Businesses Promote Love City in the Big Apple

Katie Shea Tarta, operations manager for KatiLady Katering, poses in New York City’s Grand Central Terminal during “America’s Caribbean in the Big Apple” promotion.

Business representatives from across the territory traveled to New York City for the “America’s Caribbean in the Big Apple” promotion at Grand Central Terminal from Jan. 17 to 19.

“It was fantastic, it went really well,” said Katie Shea Tarta, operations manager for KatiLady Katering, one of two St. John businesses that participated in the promotion. “I would say that about 25 percent of the thousands of people whom I talked to had already booked a trip to St. John.”

The other 75 percent of the people passing through Grand Central’s Vanderbilt Hall, where the promotional displays were located, had heard of St. John, but thought that it was an elite island, Tarta said.

“I was able to educate a lot of people about the different levels of accommodations on St. John,” she said, “from Maho Bay Campgrounds to Kismet Villa. I was also able to inform people about how to get to St. John, and I feel that we really raised awareness about the island.”

The Westin Resort and Villas also participated in the promotion, which was sponsored by the V.I. Department of Tourism.