One St Lucian woman and her young and thriving business along with her team are patting themselves on the back after being awarded a coveted international prize in the tourism industry.
Observing its fourth anniversary recently, Cleopatra "Judy" Mason’s: The Travel Boutique Incorporated had even more to celebrate when A&A Tours, the General Sales Agent, honoured them with the "Best Producer" Award for Royal Caribbean & Celebrity Cruise lines. The Travel Agency was also recently recognized by Carnival Cruise Lines.
Judy who has fulfilled her lifelong ambition of owning and operating her own Travel Agency explains that the award simply means that The Travel Boutique Inc has sold the most cruises for the cruise line in St Lucia. And when you’re talking numbers, this translates to approximately 300 cruises being sold by The Travel Boutique Inc alone.
There is nothing new in this to Judy who is an "old hand" at getting St Lucians up and away from the daily stresses of life. She has been the number one seller of cruise vacations in St Lucia for the last six years and in fact walked away with the award for the first time in 2002, even while she worked with another establishment. Since then it has been par for the course as she annually receives the accolades.
With her eye firmly set on making The Travel Boutique Inc the number one Travel Agency on the island, pitting herself against other companies that have ruled supreme for decades, Judy believes it’s the extra human touch that makes every passenger feel that they are special and is more than just a statistic.
With her fortÈ being the French market, she is the number one company of choice when one is booking trips to any of the French islands or mainland France. Judy who hails from Choiseul but who grew up in Cayenne, has made her business a full service Travel Agency and Destination Management Company.
After years in the industry and observing how it’s done, she has it well organized. The Travel Boutique Inc, though just four years young offers a wide range of services to the most discerning traveler providing cruise vacation packages, airline tickets, hotel bookings both locally and overseas, wedding and honeymoon packages, tours, car rentals, land and sea tours, wedding and honeymoon cruise packages, events at the Gaiety and the list goes on and on.
However, some of the little touches that The Travel Boutique Inc offers at Judy’s insistence are helping travelers secure appointments with the US Embassy in Barbados and helping them fill out their visa applications, travel care insurance, bookings on the popular French ferry—L’ Express Des I’iles and booking passengers desirous of traveling from Hewanorra International Airport in the south of the island and vice versa on the recently launched "Blue Bus". Taking their services up one notch or more, Judy and her team also present a Linguistic Programme as yet another extension of the services being offered by The Travel Boutique Inc.