The UK hospitality trade, in blue, took on members of the UK press

The Antigua & Barbuda Tourism Authority has held the inaugural ‘Media vs. Trade’ cricket tournament Richmond Cricket Club.

The day showcased a slice of Antiguan island life and drew on the country’s rich cricketing heritage to bring the travel industry together for some informal networking.

Players included travel, consumer and trade media and hoteliers and tour operators including John Taker, vice president at GTA Travel and Matthew Prior, managing director at TUI Specialist Division. 

The inaugural event was a triumph with over 70 attendees and is set to be an annual event. 

The match was played ahead of Antigua hosting the England team to an ODI in March 2017.

The media were the winning team, captained by freelance writer, Danny Buckland and person of the match was Geoffrey Dean at The Times.

Medals were awarded to Andy Thesen of Hermitage Bay and Martin Palmer of Travel Day for Pair of the Match (male), while Sam Fowler at Hayes & Jarvis and Pauline Gullidge of Sugar Ridge took Pair of the Match (female).

At the same time, Nick Fisher from APL Media and Will van der Wiel from Perform Group won Best Batting Pair, and Arthur Martin at the Daily Mail took Best Effort.

Andy Thiesen from Heritage Bay won Best Fielder and Geoff Dean for Best Moment for his run out.

The cricket match was followed by an outdoor Antiguan BBQ with authentic steel band entertainment.

Carnival dancers brought colour to the day and celebrated Antigua’s upcoming ‘Year of Anniversaries’.

Continuing on from the 35th independence celebrations in 2016, in 2017 Antigua will mark 50 years of Antigua Sailing Week and 60 years of Antigua’s Carnival – The Caribbean’s Greatest Summer Festival, and 30 years of Antigua Classic Yacht Regatta.