barbados tourism in review: 2014 peformance 2015 … · 2015. 2. 24. · barbados welcomed 395...
TRANSCRIPT
BARBADOS TOURISM IN REVIEW:
2014 PEFORMANCE
2015 RETURNING TO GROWTH
Remarks
William Griffith
Chief Executive Officer
Barbados Tourism Marketing Inc.
February 24, 2015
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Good morning ladies and gentlemen
I am honoured to be able to deliver this report today on
the tourism performance in 2014, and to be able to outline
the tangible growth prospects for 2015. I am equally
pleased to be the bearer of some positive news on behalf
of a very hard-working and dedicated team of individuals
at the Barbados Tourism Marketing Inc.
Credit must be given to those who in anyway assisted in
paving the way for our island to be able to wrestle back
some of our market share.
Having been on the job for just shy of four months, I am
now fully immersed in my role in building the new
organization and transforming its business model in line
with the changing tourism landscape. I am very
appreciative for all the support that I have received so far
from colleagues and industry partners. Success will be
defined by the extent of the collaborative effort of
everyone in this all-important industry.
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CRUISE
As this is my first industry report I would like to break with
convention and start with our cruise performance.
Barbados welcomed 395 cruise ships in 2014 compared
to 374 in 2013 or 6 per cent more than the previous year.
There were eight inaugural calls representing 38,083
passengers in 2014, among them the third largest
passenger ship, Royal Caribbean’s Quantum of the Seas,
with a capacity of 5,000.
While cruise passenger arrivals dipped by 2 per cent or
12,365 to 557,898 arrivals, we are happy to report there
were approximately 8,462 cruise stay visitors. This
represents an increase of 1,164 arrivals over 2013. The
other good news is that the majority of them chose to stay
7-10 days, followed by 2-3 days and 4-6 days.
We also maintained our home porting levels, which
continue to benefit several other sectors including
agriculture and retail.
The separation of the cruise and cargo functions at the
Port presents a great opportunity to improve the
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servicescape of the arrival area for our cruise visitors and
provides new and authentic experiences for them from the
moment they set foot on our shores.
We look forward to working with our partners at the
Barbados Port Inc. and the Barbados Tourism Product
Authority (BTPA), as well as the membership of the
Barbados Hotel and Tourism Association, to enhance the
cruise value proposition.
We also continue to maintain a healthy presence at the
global cruise trade events, including the upcoming
Seatrade Miami cruise conference. Partnering with our
sister countries across the region to ensure the Caribbean
remains the world’s most desirable cruise itinerary,
remains a top priority.
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LONG STAY ARRIVALS
Now we move on to a review of our long stay arrivals in
2014. As the chairman indicated, our long stay arrivals
are up 2.2 per cent over 2013 with 11, 118 additional
visitors to the island. We consider this result very
encouraging.
December 2014 recorded the highest number of arrivals
for any given month since April 2007, when we hosted the
ICC Cricket World Cup. During that month last year there
were 61,128 visitors, an increase of 19.8 percent or
10,101 more visitors year-on-year.
The majority of visitors to Barbados in 2014, 34 per cent to
be precise, stayed 7 – 10 days and fell between the ages
of 46 and 55. This is consistent with the 2013 figures. Of
the total number of visitors, 52 per cent were female
versus 48 percent male. The majority stayed with friends
and relatives, that is, 22 per cent of all visitors, compared
to 19 per cent who chose luxury accommodation and 14
per cent who opted for the villa experience.
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UK
A granular look at our results reveals that this positive
performance was led by the United Kingdom, which
maintained its position as the top producing market for the
island. UK arrivals accounted for 37 per cent of Barbados’
arrivals in 2014 or 186,858 visitors, an increase of 11 per
cent or 18,125 more holidaymakers than in 2013.
These increases can be attributed to the UK’s improved
economic conditions, which drove up consumer
confidence. We also reaped success from several event
initiatives that targeted this market, namely the
Summertastic, Top Gear and the Soccerex programmes,
among others.
The success that our refurbished properties have had with
the UK tour operators ought to inspire other property
owners to make the requisite investments. In the end it’s
a win-win for all parties and is critical if we are to maintain
our competitiveness.
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USA
The USA continued to be the second highest producer of
business for Barbados, generating 23 per cent of our
visitors for 2014. There was a decline of 2 per cent or
2,074 fewer visitors. However, this must be compared
against a 4 per cent dip in capacity out of the USA or
10,054 fewer seats when compared to 2013.
This would have been as a direct result of the loss of
55,702 seats on American’s service out of JFK. So in
essence 82 per cent of that lost airlift capacity has now
been replaced by JetBlue, Delta and US Airways. The
Delta nonstop service from Atlanta’s Jackson International
and New York’s JFK, were among the highlights in our
efforts in this market during the last financial year.
Overall, we closed the year with 118,659 US arrivals,
which represents a 2 per cent dip year on year. It is
important to note that in December, we registered record
arrivals out of the United States when compared against
2013. This was also the third highest number of December
US arrivals on record in 14 years, eclipsed only by the
year 2009 with 14,989 arrivals and 2005, 14,775 arrivals.
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CARIBBEAN & LATIN AMERICA
Although the CARICOM market registered a loss of 9.9
per cent, it remained the third largest source market for
the island. Thirty-five per cent of the total visitors from this
region or 27,915 travellers came from Trinidad & Tobago.
Our research tells us that this decline is due to a number
of factors, including diminished spending power among
potential travellers and a 10 per cent reduction in seats via
LIAT. High airfares placed regional travel in an
uncompetitive position, in some instances, when
compared to the cost of international travel.
We are fortunate that several events continue to attract
visitors from the region to our shores including the Crop
Over Festival, Barbados Gospelfest, the Barbados
Reggae Festival and Hennessey Artistry concert, as well
as most motorsports events, which have proven to be very
popular with our Caribbean neighbours.
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Our task is to create the right packages and deals to
support this trend so that all potential Caribbean visitors
will have the incentive to visit Barbados. We will also
engage creatively with our airline partners in an attempt to
increase intra-regional travel.
Brazil
Arrivals from Brazil continue to trend very positively.
There were some great package promotions in the market
during that period, including the Barbados Island Inclusive
and a Flat Fare Sale. As a result Brazil was up 18 per
cent or 864 additional passengers year on year and this is
the highest number of arrivals we have had since the
introduction of the Gol flight. Several travel trade initiatives
were undertaken such as familiarization trips to Barbados
and agent training. We are already seeing the fruit of
these efforts and plan to do even more to grow this very
important market.
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CANADA
Initial projections showed Canadian arrivals in 2014 would
decline by 8%. Through refocused marketing efforts,
rebounding visitor demand and successful airline
negotiations, the year ended with a 2.2 per cent decline.
For the first time ever we had three weekly flights out of
Montreal and Air Canada introduced, for the first time
ever, a 270-seat B777 daily service out of Toronto.
Moreover, the team was able to successfully establish co-
op campaigns with key partners such as Air Canada
Vacations (ACV) and WestJet Vacations. They executed
a Cineplex Promotion with 15-second adverts in English
and French combined with print ads in the Cineplex
Magazine.
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EUROPE
We now turn to Europe where Barbados registered
another encouraging performance.
We are pleased to announce that Germany, the
Netherlands and Belgium are up 16%, 17% and 7%
respectively. Italy was also up 13% over 2013. This was
largely due to strong marketing to support the seat
capacity increase of 3,960 seats, or 23 per cent.
Condor’s Frankfurt service continued to be the major
direct service out of Europe. They increased their
capacity by 14 per cent or 1, 350 seats. Condor’s winter
operations were also enhanced by twice weekly flights
through to the month of April 2014, and then three weekly
flights, which commenced in November 2014.
Condor is supported by a tour operator portfolio strategy
aimed at establishing rock solid relationships with all of the
key players. We are also boosting awareness about
destination Barbados in the European market through
travel agent training using an E-Learning tool we created
in collaboration with the CTO.
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Media partnerships with wide-advertising coverage across
multiple channels and social media marketing have also
helped us to reach over 6.5 million in Germany alone.
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BARBADOS TOURISM 2015: RETURNING TO
GROWTH
We are optimistic with the about the projections so far for
2015. Preliminary figures for the month of January 2015
show that Barbados realized 56,132 visitors in total, the
highest on record in 15 years.
Arrivals out of the USA in January 2015 grew by 14 per
cent or 1, 295 additional visitors to reach a total of 10,810.
This was the highest for arrivals in January out of the USA
since 2011, when US arrivals reached 11, 968. During
that period Delta’s Atlanta service and American Airlines’
Dallas Fort Worth service were in operation.
In the UK during January 2015, there was a 15 per cent
increase in arrivals or 2, 790 more visitors. The total,
21,355 visitors, was the highest number on record of UK
visitors realized during the month of January.
In January 2015, arrivals out of Canada grew by 27 per
cent to reach 10,578, an increase of 2,238. There was
also a 23% growth in Germany and a 20% growth in
Brazilian arrivals. Trinidad and Tobago continued to
struggle with a 12% decline.
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A large part of our enthusiasm stems also from our new
marketing philosophy, which will be driven by a stronger
digital marketing consciousness than ever before. While
we are encouraged by these results we are very cognizant
that one or two great months is not the panacea. The
battle for growth and sustainability for visitor arrivals will
not be won solely by winter performances. It will require
greater effort and more targeted marketing activity in the
summer and fall months.
In addition to a proposed new destination website by the
end of this fiscal year, I am pleased to announce the
appointment of a new director of marketing effective
March 2. We want to acknowledge today the presence of
Mr. Robert Chase, a young man who has an extensive
working background in e-marketing; possesses a
Bachelor’s degree in Management (with honours) and
holds a master’s degree (with distinction) in e-commerce
all at my alma mater the University of the West Indies. I
wish Robert well and have warned him that a few
sleepless nights are not far away. We will be placing an ad
in the coming week for a manager of digital marketing and
social media. This new role will further augment that
Marketing Department and represents a fundamental
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change in our strategy to transform our business model
from one focused on traditional media and advertising.
The marketing department will be responsible for all of
Barbados’ online real estate and managing our digital
reputation. They will also coordinate the brand advertising
and marketing strategy consistently across all markets.
Brilliant Barbados
We are also delighted to announce today the launch of a
new tactical destination promotion, Brilliant Barbados,
which has been created with excellent support from our
BHTA partners.
The Brilliant Barbados promotion, which will commence in
early March, offers the first night free on a four-night stay
for the US, Canada and the Caribbean markets, and the
first two nights free on a seven-night stay for the UK
market, Europe and Latin America.
The booking window will be open from early March for five
weeks, with travel to be completed between May 9 and
December 19, 2015.
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Participants will also receive a 25% attractions discount
card to be used at participating entities; and a Re-
Discover dining voucher will be given to each person on
arrival, among other benefits. We are pleased that
approximately 30 hotels have signed on to participate so
far in this campaign, and the marketing promotions will be
tailored for each source market.
The objective of this tactical promotion is clearly to drive
incremental business in that traditionally softer period of
the year that we mentioned earlier.
CRUISE
Projections for 2015 paint a vivid picture of growth and
new business for cruise tourism. Overall arrivals are
projected to increase by over 5-6 per cent to produce
close to 750,000 arrivals.
Home porting activity will rebound with a projected
increase of 17 cent over 2014.
In addition, 12 new vessels calling at the Port of
Bridgetown during 2015/ 16 season will contribute
177,551 passengers towards overall capacity.
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LONG STAY ARRIVALS
USA
When we look at our global prospects for growth, it is clear
that the US has the greatest potential for Barbados. It is
the fastest growing region in global travel and its
economic conditions are expected to continue on a
positive upward trajectory.
We anticipate seeing tangible improvements from the
efforts of our US team, ably led by our new Director USA
Market, Petra Roach, in 2015. Additional airlift planned
into Barbados via the extension of the second JetBlue
service from JFK, and a twice-weekly nonstop Delta
service out of JFK and Atlanta, were launched in
December. We are already setting programmes in place
to make sure we fill those seats.
Some of the initiatives they have planned for the US
market include:
providing irresistible incentives to 6,000 luxury travel
agents trained in our Barbados Elite Club
programme.
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reviving our relationship with Virtuoso, which will
provide us with access to 8,900 of the most powerful
luxury travel advisors in the world – an initiative that
also stands to enhance our Canadian business
prospects.
We are also pursuing the culinary tourism niche by
showcasing Barbados’ local chefs at major gateways
to strengthen our position as the culinary capital of
the Caribbean.
Barbados recently embarked on a CBS radio promotion in
the tri-state area with JetBlue’s contribution and we plan to
replicate this initiative in support of the Delta Atlanta
service. Some of these initiatives will be extended across
our other markets, where feasible, as a part of our global
marketing strategy.
UK
In the UK, we will be defending our airlift astutely through
strategic partnerships with key industry players, while
developing creative travel concepts for would-be visitors
around our extensive sports and cultural calendar.
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Notwithstanding that, our team is exploring new events
and alliances to keep our product offering fresh in this very
mature source market.
We will also be exploiting opportunities to offer greater
value for money, e.g. via the Re-Discover card and
building on our relationship with our partners at the
Barbados Hotel and Tourism Association (BHTA) through
programmes such as Connect BGI. We want to wish our
newly appointed Director UK, Cheryl Carter, great
success. Many of these initiatives will also be run in
Europe.
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CANADA
Our strategy, led by our newly appointed Director of
Canada, Peter Mayers, will continue to advocate for the
inclusion of additional Barbadian hotels and ancillary
services by our elite tour operator partners.
Two days before Valentine’s Day WestJet ran a
successful viral campaign promoting Barbados’ romance
product, which generated over 1.4 million views on
YouTube. We will be working with Sandals through their
relationship with Air Canada Vacations (ACV) to help to
spread the word about Barbados as a preferred
destination for romance. Indeed, we will be attempting to
leverage this partnership across all markets to engage
media and tour operators to create unique value
propositions.
Research has also confirmed that we have strong
prospects in reaching multigenerational travelers in
Canada and we will be reaching out to them using a
summer villa promotion. Sports, affinity groups, culture
and heritage, and MICE niche marketing will also be used
to help drive up our Canadian arrivals.
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EUROPE
Team BTMI will be implementing a strong digital
marketing campaign through partners such as Expedia,
Trivago, TripAdvisor and Unister in order to push sales.
These and other Internet travel publishers will be used to
help us to reach millions of potential visitors to our shores.
In France sales missions will be held on the outskirts of
Paris in cities that fit our desired demographic profile –
high incomes and good access to our British Airways
Condor services.
We will invest significantly in increasing awareness about
Barbados throughout Europe via road shows, fam trips
with A-list media and bloggers, E-learning programmes for
travel agents, and participating in strategic travel trade
conferences.
However, the primary focus across Europe will be on
digital marketing and online sweepstakes through
Facebook in particular, which has great potential for a
return on our marketing dollars and bodes well for us as
we seek to reduce the seasonality of our markets.
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CARIBBEAN
Despite the challenges we still have high hopes for the
Caribbean market. Our team has already started
assessing our market position and the ways we can
enhance Barbados’ image as an aspirational and
attainable destination. We are also considered a mecca
for successful, well-designed and produced events and we
will be working with our airline and tour operator partners
in the region to offer packages around these events.
The high cost of airfare continues to be a concern and we
are exploring creative promotional options.
There will be strategic partnerships with key influential
individuals and associations with extensive databases of
potential visitors. Our emphasis will be on attracting
regional sports events, as well as the MICE market.
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BRAZIL
In Brazil, our travel trade activities are in the advanced
planning stage with a travel agent incentive programme
set to come on stream in the near future. Fam trips and
agent training will be combined with chances to win prize
trips to Barbados. We will continue to work with major
tour operators and media professionals as well to ensure
we continue to grow our arrivals out of this important
region. Luxury, sports, MICE, romance and educational
travel are all niches that our research has suggested we
must pursue aggressively in the Brazilian market. We will
also be exploring potential business outside of the
traditional Rio de Janeiro and Sao Paolo hubs.
These are exciting times for Barbados’ tourism.
While many of these initiatives have proven successful for
Barbados through the years, the difference going forward
will be an increased use of research and measurement to
assess our strategic positions.
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At present the Immigration form provides trends and
visitor analysis, but visitor segmentation analysis is the
next step to understand the types of people that are
traveling to Barbados so that we can focus time, energy
and dollars in the most relevant areas.
Segmentation analysis will help BTMI to quantify, locate
and understand who are its current high potential and
prospective visitors.
BTMI will have an in-depth description that will provide
more insight on how to reach consumers with the right
message and product offering.
This amplified research strategy, and our flexibility as an
organization to respond to rapidly changing market
conditions, speaks to a new era in marketing for
Barbados’ tourism.
Our goal is to complete the transition plan for the new
BTMI entity by the end of year 2015. We are also rapidly
building a rhythm in pursuing our new mandate; while
overcoming inherited challenges and fulfilling inherited
commitments.
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We look forward to collaborating with all of our partners to
maximize our limited budgets toward achieving greater
things for our vital tourism sector. We would also like to
point out that all sponsorship partnership requests will be
assessed primarily on a set criteria for a return on
investment (ROI) that targets visitor arrivals.
The prospects for destination Barbados look very healthy
and we are ready to regain our market share and
accomplish new milestones in 2015 and beyond.
Thank you.
I now hand you back over to Neville who will chair the
question and answer session.
BARBADOS TOURISM IN REVIEW:
2014 PEFORMANCE
2015 RETURNING TO GROWTH
Remarks Alvin Jemmott Chairman Barbados Tourism Marketing Inc. February 24, 2015
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Good morning ladies and gentlemen. It is with great
pleasure that I welcome you to today’s news conference,
a performance review of the Barbados tourism sector in
2014.
We want to extend a special welcome to the members of
the media for joining us as we take this opportunity to
highlight the major achievements of our 2014 performance
and to reveal some of the strategic initiatives we have
planned for promoting this wonderful destination,
Barbados, in 2015.
The year 2014 was a period of marked recovery for
Barbados’ tourism sector. At the end of December visitor
arrivals were up 2.2 per cent year-on-year, due in no small
part to strong economic recovery and improved consumer
confidence in traditional and emerging source markets.
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The World Tourism Organization (WTO) announced
recently that there were some 978 million international
travellers in 2014, an increase of 4.7 per cent or 45 million
tourists more than the previous year. All of our key source
markets showed positive signs of growth and this augurs
well for the future growth of the Barbados tourism sector
from 2015 onwards.
The Caribbean benefitted significantly from this increase
with the Caribbean Tourism Organization (CTO) reporting
an average growth of 4.9 per cent across 28 reporting
territories.
In 2014 Barbados’ tourism arrivals grew by 2.2 per cent. It
is the first positive sign of growth in two years and all
industry partners must be commended for playing their
respective parts to get us to this point.
This is admirable considering that our destination is one of
the more mature holiday spots in the region, with a very
high repeat visitor rate. It also comes against the
background that there was a projection of a 4 per cent
decline in arrivals for the year back in December 2013.
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According to the Central Bank of Barbados visitor
expenditure for the first three quarters of the 2014 stood at
11.7% of total real GDP. It is estimated that Barbados
earns over $4 billion in foreign exchange earnings, with
some 15,100 or 12% of all employed persons working in
the hotels and restaurants across the island.
In the cruise sector we were able to secure 557,898
passengers. Home porting activity was 5 per cent below
the previous year due to a decrease in call s across
various lines. However, we welcomed 395 cruise ships,
an increase of 21 vessels when compared to 2013. Over
the past six months, the Barbados Tourism Marketing Inc.
(BTMI) has sought to build on the momentum of its
predecessor, so that the transition into the new
organization thus far can be characterized as a
continuum.
However, it is by no means business as usual, as we are
very keen on establishing a new marketing philosophy that
appropriately matches our current digital age.
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Likewise, our efforts to formulate a winning global team to
market brand Barbados continue unabated. In due course
we believe we will have an appropriate mixture of solid
experience and new media insight that can carry the
organizational strategy toward developing and enhancing
our tourism sector for generations to come.
Even in the face of this transition, we are keeping our
sights on the major targets set before us. Shortly you will
hear of our plans for 2015, which are guided by our
commitment:
- To diversify our tourism source markets and reduce
our vulnerability to shocks in any given region.
- To reduce the seasonality by adjusting our marketing
strategies across booking periods
- To deepen strategic partnerships with key travel
industry players to simplify the booking process for
potential visitors
- To pursue an integrated marketing approach to
ensure the implementation of successful initiatives
and lessons learned across all of our source markets.
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In addition, our long-term goals are still rooted in a desire
to break down the language barriers in pursuing new
categories of visitors, and providing new tourism products
that can attract the next generation of travellers. With
regards to the latter, we are working closely with our sister
entity, the Barbados Tourism Product Authority (BTPA).
We are committed to balancing these objectives against
our current targets to ensure the sustainability of this vital
industry.
We make bold to say that already we are seeing the fruit
of the decision to shift our tourism marketing strategy into
the hands of a company. This new structure allows us to
be nimble, to be quick in responding to market shifts and
to set a new paradigm based on fiscal prudence.
We ask that you support team BTMI as they move forward
into this new frontier for the good of Barbados’ tourism.
I now hand you over to the CEO, William Griffith, who will
share the detailed highlights of our 2014 performance and
a long-lens view into our strategic plans for 2015.
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I thank you.
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
BARBADOS’ TOURISM RETURNS TO GROWTH PATH ~Local tourism grew for first time in two years by 2.2 per cent ~
BRIDGETOWN, BARBADOS. February 24, 2015 – Barbados’ tourism sector has begun to show signs of growth. In 2014 long stay visitor arrivals increased for the first time in two years by 2.2 percent to 519,638 visitors, compared to the previous year. Chairman of the Barbados Tourism Marketing Inc. (BTMI), Alvin Jemmott, explained that while there was still some way to go to restore all of the market share lost during the past few years, it was encouraging news for the destination. “This is admirable considering that our destination is one of the more mature holiday spots in the region, with a very high repeat visitor rate. It also comes against the background that there was a projection of a four per cent decline in arrivals for the year back in December 2013.” Tourism is still the best hope for Barbados’ economic recovery, as it generates some 12 per cent of the island’s foreign exchange earnings, which are estimated at $4 billion. There was also a record-breaking number of arrivals in December 2014 when Barbados welcomed 56,132 long stay visitors, the highest on record in any given month since the April 2007 ICC Cricket World Cup. BTMI CEO, William Griffith, explained that the growth in arrivals was due largely to marked economic recovery and growing consumer confidence in the United Kingdom. Barbados’ UK arrivals grew by 11 per cent in 2014 to reach 186,858 visitors or 37 per cent of Barbados’ total arrivals.
- more - In the United States market, he revealed that visitor arrivals declined by two per cent in 2014. Thus far, the BTMI has been able to replace 82 per cent of the 55,702 seats lost after the withdrawal of the American Airlines service out
MEDIA CONTACT: NEVILLE BOXILL SENIOR DIRECTOR, SUPPORT SERVICES
BARBADOS TOURISM MARKETING INC. 1
ST FLOOR WARRENS OFFICE COMPLEX
WARRENS ST. MICHAEL
of JFK. In addition, December was a record month for the US market, with 14,460 arrivals, the third highest number of December arrivals from the USA to date. The Canadian market, which was predicted to finish at 8 per cent below the 2013 performance, was down by two per cent at the end of 2014. The Caribbean market experienced a 10 per cent decline in seats via regional carrier, LIAT; diminished spending power among potential visitors; and high airfares that, Griffith argued ‘placed regional travel in an uncompetitive position, in some instances, when compared to the cost of international travel.” Overall, the Caricom market registered a decline of 9.9 per cent in arrivals. Of note, the European market continued to maintain double-digit growth in 2014. Germany, the Netherlands and Belgium were up 15 per cent, 17 per cent and 7 per cent respectively. Italy was also up 13 per cent over 2013. Similarly, arrivals out of Brazil were up by 18 per cent. The cruise tourism sector registered a two per cent decline in arrivals to reach 557,898 arrivals and home porting activity was five per cent below the previous year due to a decrease in calls across various lines. However, we welcomed 395 cruise ships, an increase of 21 vessels when compared to 2013. There were 1,164 more cruise stay visitors than in the previous year, with the majority choosing to stay 7-10 days. 2015 Predicted as ‘Year of Growth’ Building on the successful growth of the previous year, Barbados’ tourism arrivals are projected to increase by five per cent in 2015. Also for the year the island has recorded strong levels of visitor arrivals with preliminary figures showing January 2015 being the highest on record for the past 15 years with 56,132 arrivals. The USA grew by 14 per cent to 10,810, the highest on record since 201. The UK increased by 15 per cent or 2,790 more visitors to a total of 21,355 visitors and Canada made a significant jump of 27 percentage points to reach 10,578 visitors. To ensure that this growth is sustained in 2015, the BTMI will be combining a new digital marketing strategy and a deeper reliance on research with a new nimble business structure and several collaborative marketing programmes reach their targets.
- more - A new programme dubbed, Brilliant Barbados, has been designed “to drive incremental business in the traditionally softer period of the year”. Griffith said.
“The battle for growth and sustainability for visitor arrivals will not be won solely by winter performances. It requires greater effort and more targeted marketing activity in the summer and fall months”. He added. The booking window for the Brilliant Barbados promotion will open from early March for five weeks and travel will be required between May 9 and December 19, 2015. Thirty participating hotels and a number of local attractions have come on board to offer visitors discounts. In addition, strong alliances are already being formed with several online travel agencies, tour operators and local industry partners to increase Barbados marketing presence at key gateways. The BTMI’s CEO also announced the appointment of a new Director Marketing, Robert Chase, who has a master’s degree in e-commerce. His department will hold responsibility for brand advertising, marketing strategy and the BTMI’s online real estate. Additionally, the BTMI will begin the recruitment process for a manager of digital marketing and social media. It is anticipated that all new hires will be in position by the end of the year. Cruise is also projected to be buoyant with a five to six per cent increase expected to push cruise arrivals over the 750,000 mark by the end of 2015. Home porting is set to increase by 17 per cent this year and 12 new vessels calling the Bridgetown port will contribute an additional 177,551 passengers. Among the niche markets the BTMI will be focusing its marketing dollars on are the luxury, meetings and incentives (MICE), culinary and romance markets. Sports and festivals are also expected to factor heavily going forward. Griffith concluded by stating that the island was poised to regain market share and accomplish new milestones in 2015 and beyond.
- ENDS -