The Bermuda Tourism Authority has hailed its accreditation by the Destination Marketing Association International.

The recognition means the BTA has met “the highest possible standards of destination marketing organisations around the world”, according to a statement issued by the authority.

BTA head Bill Hanbury said the authority was “ecstatic to have reached this milestone”.

The association is a global trade group with more than 600 members. The BTA said less than 200 such organisations have been given accreditation, out of more than 2,000 estimated to exist worldwide.

“For the BTA to attain this prestigious accreditation approval is truly an impressive achievement after only being in existence for less than 18 months,” said Michael Gehrisch, the president and CEO of Destination Marketing International.

Accreditation meant the BTA was competently organised and managing Bermuda’s tourism strategy, he said, adding: “Mature destination marketing organisations have difficulty attaining this designation.”

Chief operating officer Karla Lacey, who led the application process, accepted the accreditation. The submission included documenting “57 mandatory standards across 16 domains including: governance, finance, human resources, destination development, innovation, sales, marketing, brand management and stakeholder relationships”.

Ms Lacey said the BTA had been able to set best practices in place by building itself from the ground up.

“It was a challenge starting from scratch while at the same time meeting these enormously high standards, but having now achieved the accreditation it feels like a real coup — something every member of the BTA team and every one of our stakeholders can be proud of,” she said.