Mr. Torben Eirby This is Me

 Web References

1. 1. Virgin Islands, Virgin Islands Newspaper, A Pulitzer Prize Winning Newspaper, Virgin Islands Guide, Virgin Islands Info

   www.virginislandsdailynews.com - [Cached]

   Published on: 6/18/2005   Last Visited: 6/18/2005

   Torben Eirby, president of the Danish West Indies Travel Agency, released a statement late Thursday afternoon saying the reason for halting the operation is rising fuel costs and low passenger numbers. He said that Saturday's arrival of Danish tourists would be the last flight.
   
   "The reason is a combination of high flight prices and a decrease in the numbers of customers," Eirby wrote in the statement. "In the months of March, April and May, the flights - as many most probably already know - had many empty seats."
   
   He said travel costs were increased to offset the rising cost of fuel. Eirby could not be reached Thursday for comment.
   
   Services for guests arriving on the last flight, such as hotel stays, transportation and excursions, have been paid for, Eirby said in the statement. He added that the agency will seek out a new charter company in an effort to resume the flights to St. Croix.
   
   "A battle has been lost, but there is a new one to win," he wrote. "Hopefully we will in the nearest future be able again to work together in bringing the Danes to the islands."
   
   The news comes just months after Eirby held a press conference to announce plans to expand the program to northern European countries later this year. He said with the program's success in its first year, organizers will begin marketing the Virgin Islands in nearby Norway, Sweden and northern Germany and moving from a biweekly operation to a weekly operation.
   
   A year and two months since the first flight arrived on St. Croix, the charter flight operation brought more than 5,000 Danish visitors to the territory, Eirby said - more than the projected 4,000 visitors.
   
   The V.I. government, which entered into a public-private partnership with Eirby's Danish West Indies Travel Agency last year, had planned to commit $300,000 this year from the Tourism Revolving Fund to help cover the cost of a marketing campaign for the charter flight program.

2. 2. The Virgin Islands Daily News - A Pulitzer Prize Winning Newspaper

   www.virginislandsdailynews.com - [Cached]

   Published on: 4/2/2004   Last Visited: 4/3/2004

   Torben Eirby, president of Denmark's Danish West Indies Travel Agency, came up with the concept of a direct flight between Copenhagen and St. Croix and ancillary tours to St. Thomas and St. John.
   ...
   "Connecting the Virgin Islands and Denmark has been my dream all my life," Mr. Eirby said. Hoteliers and others in the tourism business share his enthusiasm and hope for a successful, ongoing "connection."
   
   Mr. Eirby deserves enormous credit for putting this program together and making it work.