Are the better resorts in St. Thomas VI likely to have vacancies in
February? We prefer to travel on a WSIWYG basis rather than trusting a
web site or travel agent. But we don't want to get into a situation
where we can't find a good place on a walk-in basis. We figure tourism
is down so we should be safe but are not sure.

Dear swisscheese-ga;

Thank you for allowing me an opportunity to answer your interesting
question.

Short of finding a researcher who actually lives there and who can
tell you first had what is going on there at this very moment, your
only option in this forum is to depend on someone’s past experiences;
which again, may not be accurate enough to risk a great deal of
vacation money on since the past is not necessarily an accurate
indicator of the present situation there.

What I recommend you do is contact the Tourist Board and get the
current information straight from the horse’s mouth. This will prevent
you from having to reply upon hearsay and perhaps cause you to waste
good money on an otherwise great adventure.

If you are traveling to the British Virgin Islands you can contact the
BVI Tourist Board at:

BVI TOURIST BOARD
370 Lexington Ave. 
N.Y., NY 10017 
or call them toll free at (800) 835-8530 or (800) 232-7770 

Ask for an information packet. The comprehensive BVI WELCOME Tourist
Guide includes all the information you ever needed to know about the
BVIs, including ferry schedules, restaurants, places to stay, seasonal
availability, etc. It is published 6 times a year and will always be
relatively current.

To subscribe to it and get future issues mailed to you by airmail
delivery, send $25 for U.S. addresses and $37 elsewhere in U.S. funds
by check or money order to:

Island Publishing Services
P.O.Box 133
Road Town, Tortola, British Virgin Islands

Or you can order by phone and credit card at (809) 494-2413 or fax
(809) 494-6589.
  
There is also a WEEKLY St. Thomas information guide called "ST. THOMAS
THIS WEEK" that is always current. It can be ordered by sending $3 in
U.S. Funds to

ST THOMAS THIS WEEK
Box 11199
St. Thomas, VI, 00801-4199 
  

If you want a complete guide to the U.S. and British Virgin Islands,
you can buy  a copy of "The Cruising Guide to the Virgin Islands"
which has all kinds of information for vacationers (not just cruisers)
- hotels, restaurants, maps, services, charters, snorkeling and diving
information, phone numbers, and lots of great photos. Call or go by
your local bookstore to see if they have a current copy on hand, or
call 1-800-330-9542 or 1-813-733-5322 to order your own copy for
$17.95 plus postage.

This is supposed to be one of the top references to the Virgin Islands
available.

Alternatively, you can contact one of these:

* Tortola *
BVI Tourist Board 
Second Floor: AKARA Building & Ferry Terminal, Road Town 
Wickhams Cay I, PO Box 134, Road Town, Tortola, BVI 
Tel: (284) 494-3134  Fax: (284) 494-3866 
E-mail us at bvitourb@surfbvi.com 
  

* Virgin Gorda *
Virgin Gorda Tourist Board 
Virgin Gorda Yacht Harbour, Virgin Gorda, BVI 
Tel: (284) 495-5181  Fax: (284) 494-3866 
  
  
* U. S. A. (East Coast) *
BVI Tourist Board 
370 Lexington Avenue, Suite 1605, New York, NY 10017 
Tel: (212) 696-0400  Fax: (212) 949-8254 
E-mail: bvitouristboard@worldnet.att.net 
  
  
* U. S. A. (West Coast) *
BVI Tourist Board 
1804 Union Street, San Francisco, CA 94123 
Tel: (415) 775-0344  Fax: (415) 775-2554 
E-mail: bvitbsfo@pacbell.net 


* Atlanta *
BVI Tourist Board 
3390 Peachtree Road, NE 
Suite 1000, Lenox Towers 
ATLANTA, GA 30326 
Tel: (404) 240-8018 
Fax: (404) 364-6582 
E-mail: bviatlanta@worldnet.att.net


* Los Angeles *
BVI Tourist Board
3450 Wilshire Blvd., Suite 1202
LOS ANGELES, CA 90010
Tel: (213) 736-8931
Fax: (213) 736-8935
E-mail: bvitb@pacbell.net


* BVI Press Office *
Press Office 
FCB New York 
150 East 42nd Street, 12th FL 
NEW YORK, NY 10017 
Tel: (212) 885-3966 
Fax: (212) 885-3898 
Email: tpeters@fcb.com

  
* United Kingdom *
BVI Tourist Board 
110 St. Martin's Lane, London, WC2N 4DY 
Tel: 011-44-171-240-4259  Fax: 011-44-171-240-4270 
E-mail: christine.oliver@fcb.co.uk 


* London  *
BVI Tourist Board 
Banks Hoggins O'Shea FCB 
55 Newman Street, LONDON W1P 3PG 
Tel: (44) 207 947 820 
Fax: (44) 207 947 8279 
E-mail: bvi@bho.fcb.com
  
  
* Germany *
BVI Tourist Board 
Wallstrasse 56, D-40878 Ratingin/Dusseldorf, Germany 
Tel: 011-49-2102-71-11-83  Fax: 011-49-2102-2-11-77 
E-mail: rombergg@tonline.de 
  
  
* Italy  *
BVI Tourist Board 
AIGO Marketing & Communication 
Piazza Castello, 3, 20214 
Milan, Italy 
Tel: 011-39-02-669-9271 Fax: 011-39-02-669-2648 
E-mail: staff@aigo.it 

Whichever method you choose, you now have several options (some of
which are toll free) for contacting and/or speaking with a LIVE PERSON
nearest you who is "thoroughly" informed about the current conditions
and activities regarding our destination and you won’t have to rely on
hearsay or some potentially outdated web site.

Have a safe trip!

Below you will find that I have carefully defined my search strategy
for you in the event that you need to search for more information. By
following the same type of searches that I did you may be able to
enhance the research I have provided even further. I hope you find
that that my research exceeds your expectations. If you have any
questions about my research please post a clarification request prior
to rating the answer. Otherwise, I welcome your rating and your final
comments and I look forward to working with you again in the near
future. Thank you for bringing your question to us.

Best regards;
Tutuzdad-ga


INFORMATION SOURCES

BRITISH VIRGIN ISLANDS TRAVEL TIPS
http://www.bvitravel.com/traveltips/


BVI WELCOME
http://www.bviwelcome.com/


BVI TOURISM
http://www.iccuk.net/bvitourism/pages/tourist.html



SEARCH STRATEGY


SEARCH ENGINE USED:

Google ://www.google.com


SEARCH TERMS USED:

“ST THOMAS VI” SEASON STATISTICS

BVI TOURISM BOARD

---

Request for Answer Clarification by swisscheese-ga on 21 Jan 2003 04:24 PST

Thank you very much for your detailed information. However the reply
tells me how to research my question rather than answering the
question. If you can do what is necessary to answer the question it
would be most appreciated and properly rewarded. If that is not
practical I will still give you a good rating.

---

Clarification of Answer by tutuzdad-ga on 21 Jan 2003 06:59 PST

Dear swisscheese-ga; 

As I mentioned at both the beginning of my answer and at the end, I
doubt that any second hand information from someone who once visited
the island during the month of February will prove useful in terms of
knowing what is currently avilable and what is not. Nor is it likely
to produce reliable statistics concerning February tourist population
or projected vacancies at the better resorts in St. Thomas since
circumstances such as the policitical, environmental and ecomonic
landscape in ST may have undegone dramatic changes since their last
visit.

Since we last spoke I did call SECRET HARBOR BEACH RESORT ST THOMAS US
VIRGIN IS at 1-800-524-2250 and posed your question to them. They said
that while it would not be impossible to find accomodations during the
month of February, reservations are always recommended since February
is considered a peak season in St Thomas. In particular, February
15-22 (President's Week) is the most difficult time to find
accomodations as this period marks the apex of the February tourist
season.

In addition I also phoned BVI TOURIST BOARD for you at (800) 835-8530
and was advised that a well planned and reserved itenerary is
extremely important in advance of the month of February in order to
ensure accomodations.

I hope this clears some questions up for you.

Regards;
tutuzdad-ga

Excellent research and follow-thru.