OCHO RIOS, St Ann — The 20th staging of the Baxter Travel Golf Tournament at the Sandals Golf and Country Club in Ocho Rios, St Ann, ended yesterday with a number of Canadian travel agents and tour operators taking part.

For Maureen Barnes-Smith, director of sales and marketing at Unique Vacations Canada Inc, an affiliate of the worldwide representative for Sandals, Beaches and Grand Pineapple Beach Resorts, it was a huge success, not for the quality of the two-day golf tournament, which teed off on Friday, but primarily because the event exposed Canadian industry partners to destination Jamaica.

“We had 17 four-member teams, comprising most of the tour operators in Canada — the big four — Air Canada Vacations, Westjet Vacations, Travelbrands and Transat Holidays. They carry most of our guests to Jamaica and the other islands on which we operate,” Barnes-Smith told the Jamaica Observer.

The annual fall event was established about 21 years ago to invite travel agents, tour operators, industry partners to Jamaica to showcase Jamaica as a destination and to also have them participate in the best of golf.

“It’s a weekend where they come and can let their hair down and really have a good time and enjoy Jamaica and some of the product offerings that we have,” added Barnes-Smith.

The Baxter Travel Golf Tournament is co-sponsored by Baxter Travel Media, one of the premier travel publications in Canada, and was cancelled on one occasion when hurricane lashed the island a few years ago. President David McClung travelled here with the group this year.

“What we have found out is that a lot of business gets done here, a lot of networking, friends who see each other rarely, look forward to this event on their calendar. It’s like a get-together every year and we have the best of the travel industry.

“They bring their top-producing agents, people who sell their products a lot. They bring them and expose them to our products, so even if they may not be necessarily selling Sandals as much, once they come and are exposed to it, you do see that shift taking place,” explained Barnes-Smith.

Only last month the United States and Latin American Travel Agents completed their events, which also proved successful.

The Red Tag team of Joe Demarinis, Enzo Demarinis, Leo Sgorio, and Al Budwani with a score of 123 emerged winners of the four-man scramble format ahead of Marlin Travel team of Kevin Percy, Jacques Gilbert, Bob Wakeford, and Danny Murray with a score of 124.