NEW YORK -- Three destinations stepped forward to provide free or
discounted vacations to rescue workers and the families of missing
public servants who aided victims in the terrorist attacks of Sept.
11.
The Romanian Tourist Office, the St. Kitts & Nevis Tourist
Board and the Bermuda Department of Tourism all unveiled
initiatives.
On St. Kitts & Nevis, select properties will offer free
seven-night hotel stays through Dec. 15 and again April 15 to Dec.
15, 2002, said G.A. Dwyer Astaphan, minister of tourism for St.
Kitts.
The participating properties are making a total of 30 rooms
available each night on the selected dates.
The offers include hotel rooms and meals, and Astaphan said he
is working on securing discounted air fare, car rentals, island
excursions and shopping.
"The emergency workers have just been fantastic," Astaphan said.
"We [in the Caribbean] will reach out to those in distress and
offer them a chance to get away from it all."
The tourist office will work with the mayor's offices in New
York and Washington to determine who will receive the trips.
Simion Alb, director of the Romanian Tourist Office in New York,
said the "hearts of Romanians are with the U.S. right now."
The tourist office is organizing six- to nine-night vacations --
including hotel accommodations, motor transfers, day trips, some
meals and possibly air fare (on either Tarom or Austrian Airlines)
-- to Bucharest and other Romanian cities and resorts for as many
as 20 families of missing firemen and police officers.
Families will be selected by New York City officials, Alb
said.
The offer, to be extended officially within a month, will remain
valid indefinitely.
"The families can wait until late 2002, so their children can
take advantage of the grand opening of the new Draculaland theme
park in Transylvania that Halloween," Alb noted.
According to published reports, Bermuda's government is offering
100 vacations to rescueers working at the World Trade Center site
in New York.
The vacations are "a gesture of thanks for firefighters, police
officers and rescue personnel who helped several Bermudans escape
the Twin Towers on Sept. 11," , said tourism minister David
Allen.
Allen could not yet confirm how many hotels or airlines would
participate in the offer but said the Bermuda government would pay
some of the travel and lodging costs. Details are being
finalized.