The Saltmarsh Partnership is a 14-person public relations firm based in London formed in 1990. They specialize in travel and tourism PR and have over 30 years of experience representing clients in these industries. They provide strategic PR, media relations, online marketing, and representation services to destinations, airlines, cruise lines, and tour operators. Some of their long-term clients include Aruba Tourism Authority, Iceland Tourist Board, and KLM Royal Dutch Airlines.

1. An introduction to … Our Story Our Services Our Successes Our People

2. Formed in 1990 as a specialist travel PR consultancy, The Saltmarsh Partnership is currently a 14-strong team based in Central London. Together with a results-oriented approach, our philosophy of building a close working relationship with clients has contributed to a three-year- plus average account tenure. That’s way above the industry average! We launched a dedicated Representation division in 2006 and a specialist Online division in 2008. Approaching our 21st birthday, we remain one of the UK’s leading travel & tourism specialists. Our Story

3. Public Relations Strategic PR campaign planning & advice Consumer PR Business-to-business PR Internal communications Product launches Media familiarisation visits Press releases & feature material Media lobbying & liaison Media monitoring & evaluation Media training Crisis management Speech writing Our Services

4. In-Market Representation Tour operator lobbying Operator & agent familiarisation visits Travel industry staff training Trade awareness campaigns Consumer marketing campaigns Roadshow organisation Exhibition planning & manning Sales calls Joint marketing with industry partners Newsletters & e-blasts Affinity & cross-marketing Advertising - planning, buying, creative Our Services

5. Online PR & Marketing Social media (Blogs, message boards, social networking, video & photo-sharing) Online PR (Content creation, online travel database, online press office) Search Engine Optimisation (SEO) Reputation management (Customer review monitoring, forum watching) Web design Traffic & ‘noise’ monitoring Our Services

6. Aruba Tourism Authority Celtic Haven Discover Dominica EVA Air Grape Escapes Icelandic Tourist Board Immigration New Zealand Montserrat Tourist Board Orpheus & Bacchus Our Current Clients Pierre & Vacances Rhodes Tourism Taiwan Tourism Bureau Tourism South East Utracks VisitGuernsey World Expeditions Worldhotels

7. Major Domestic & International Tourist Boards Tourism New Zealand Hong Kong Tourism Board 5 years 6 years Tourism Victoria Isle of Man Tourism 8 years 13 years And we’ve also represented…

8. Leading Airlines & Cruise Lines KLM Royal Dutch Airlines Kenya Airways 10 years 3 years Carnival Cruise Lines Holland America Line 5 years 5 years As well as …

9. Leading UK tour operators Travel 2 Holiday Cottages Group 17 years 4 years Tailor Made Travel Journey Latin America 3 years 2 years Plus …

10. Award-Winning Campaigns Chartered Institute of Marketing Travel Industry Group Travel Marketing Awards 2009 Winner: Best Use of Social Media (The Adventure Company) Silver Award: Best Tactical Campaign (Icelandic Tourist Board) Travel Marketing Awards 2010 Silver Award: Best Poster Campaign (Aruba Tourism Authority)

11. Award-Winning Campaigns PR Week Digital Survey 2009 Named in Ten Best Digital Campaigns (Pierre & Vacances) Hong Kong Tourism Board International PR Awards 2004 Best International Campaign (Post-SARS Recovery 2003)

12. Success Stories - Public Relations Iceland still open for business The date: October 2008 The challenge: Maintain confidence in Iceland as a tourism destination following the country’s banking crisis Capitalising on the devaluation of the Icelandic krona which increased UK travellers’ spending power, we initiated an intense burst of online and print media coverage including The Guardian, The Times , Evening Standard, The Observer and Sunday Mirror. Tour operators and airlines reported enquiry levels up by 400 per cent year-on-year during October 2008 .

13. Success Stories - In-Market Representation Aruba flying high The date: March 2000 - present The challenge: Establish the Dutch Caribbean island of Aruba in the UK market and increase air access for UK travellers Our lobbying secured Aruba’s first-ever direct charter service from the UK in 2004, operated by First Choice. Winter 2008 saw fortnightly flights from Gatwick, Birmingham and Manchester, with a 50% capacity increase in summer 2009 when Thomson commenced its weekly service from Gatwick. The Manchester service also went weekly in summer 2010. Little-known in the UK in 2000, Aruba is now in the top 10 Caribbean islands visited by British travellers, with visitor numbers now exceeding 10,000 annually.

14. Success Stories - Online PR A sense of community The date: September ‘08 - March ‘09 The challenge: Build The Adventure Company’s web profile by creating an online customer community Using social networks including Twitter, Blogger and Facebook (where more than 2,000 ‘fans’ were generated), we enabled existing and potential travellers to share their experiences with The Adventure Company - significantly enhancing the operator’s search engine optimisation and making a major contribution towards increased booking numbers. The campaign earned us the inaugural prize for Best Use of Social Media at the 2009 Travel Marketing Awards, staged by CIMTIG.

15. Success Stories - Strategic PR Fighting the Faliraki factor The date: Summer 2003 - present The challenge: Combat negative perceptions perceptions of Rhodes following misbehaviour by young British tourists in Faliraki In December 2003 we announced measures to ‘clean up’ Faliraki, securing coverage in every national newspaper, many regional dailies, BBC radio and TV, ITN and Sky News. Through a classic but innovative PR campaign we then set about showcasing the real Rhodes - quality hotels, history and culture, food and wine and walking opportunities. Visitor numbers recovered by summer 2005 and today Rhodes is perceived as a sophisticated Greek island destination equally suitable for short breaks and traditional two-week family holidays.

16. Success Stories - Events Winning in Recession The date: January 2010 The challenge: To launch Tourism South East’s 2010 marketing campaign to consumer, lifestyle and travel trade media We launched Tourism South East’s campaign at a private event in central London, with more than 50 top quality press attending. The success of the evening prompted this message from Tourist South East CEO Mike Bedingfield: ”The proof of a good media event ... leaving with a sore throat from speaking to too many journalists. To get the Sun, the News of the World, the Mail on Sunday and the Independent coming along ... plus many others is fabulous.”

17. Star Quality! Some of our celebrity partnerships … Alan Whicker (Isle of Man) Chris Tarrant (Arkansas) Richard Hammond (Taiwan)

18. Star Quality! Some of our celebrity partnerships … Bill Oddie Charley Boorman (Holiday (Taiwan) Cottages) Coronation Sarah Street ’s Nikki Kennedy Sanderson & (Iceland) Danny Young (Hong Kong)

19. Our People Our greatest asset … Geoff Saltmarsh Managing Director David Ezra Director Joanna Walding Representation Director

20. Our People Our greatest asset … Rebecca Genin Online Director Tom Panagos Senior Account Manager

21. What others say … “ The Saltmarsh Partnership has been central to boosting UK visitor numbers to Taiwan by 30 per cent and diversifying the product available in the market.” Josephine Huang, Taiwan Tourism Bureau “ With a huge range of destinations across the TUI Group’s portfolio, we work with many representation companies. Quite genuinely, The Saltmarsh Partnership are very good at what they do. Their work for Aruba has been outstanding.” Sebastian Doussin, TUI Group UK “ We have been working very successfully with The Saltmarsh Partnership since January 2008. The team has strived to produce excellent results in a broad range of media, and have also organised and managed excellent events which are always attended by leading travel and lifestyle journalists.” Karen Roebuck, Tourism South East

22. What others say … “ Th e Saltmarsh Partnership has provided Aruba with outstanding support in the UK and Irish markets since 2001. The agency effectively put Aruba on the map, quickly establishing it with major tour brands and following that through to the stage where we now have weekly direct charter flights from both London and Manchester. A quite exceptional record.” Frits Israel, Aruba Tourism Authority “ I have worked with Saltmarsh for many years, firstly as a travel journalist with The Sunday Times and now as a client. As a journalist I have always found them efficient, creative, accurate and quick to respond. More recently, as co-founder of www.snowcarbon.co.uk, I have been extremely impressed by the quality of their work: their enthusiasm, their resourcefulness, superb contacts and - most of all - their impressive results. I would recommend them without hesitation.” Mark Hodson, www.snowcarbon.co.uk

23. Want to know more ? Contact us at: The Saltmarsh Partnership Tel: 020 7928 1600 Fax: 020 7928 1700 E-mail: [email_address] The Copperfields, 25d Copperfield Street, London SE1 0EN Or visit our website: www. SaltmarshPR .co. uk Follow us on www.twitter.com/SaltmarshPR