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AS THE Caribbean Tourism Organisation (CTO) gears up for Caribbean Week in Toronto, there is welcome news on a number of fronts including in the areas of marketing, improving service, action on protracted aviation issues and intra-regional travel hassles. The CTO and the Caribbean Hotel and Tourism Association (CHTA) will be embarking on another major television marketing campaign in the United States. The new initiative will be similar to the 2002 ‘Life Needs the Caribbean’ campaign, which promoted the Caribbean as a single tourist destination.
According to the CTO Secretary General Hugh Riley, the success of the 2002 campaign was evident from the statistics.
In the last public-private sector marketing collaboration a combination of cash and unused inventory was used to finance the US$10 million campaign. Unused rooms in hotels during low occupancy periods across the region were bartered for advertising space.
Several CTO member states experienced a decline in US visitor arrivals including Barbados, the Bahamas, and Antigua and Barbuda. Several destinations registered small declines in cruise ship passengers or marginal increases.
“We are finally coming out of the difficult environment created by the world’s financial crisis in late 2008. While occupancies across the region increased already in 2012…our average rates are now moving up as well.
But we are still not yet where our rates were prior to the crisis. We are very concerned however, that economic and social difficulties in our own islands could affect our recovery adversely,” Immediate CHTA Past President Josef Forstmayr commented.
Riley told me he was “extremely optimistic” about the upcoming marketing campaign as it is in line with the CTO’s vision to position the Caribbean as the most desirable, year round, warm weather destination by 2017.
The CTO Secretary General also feels another step in the right direction is the decision of the region’s transport Ministers to address some of the critical aviation issues especially those affecting intra-regional travel. In particular, he said CTO’s Aviation Task Force made a “meaningful input” in the CARICOM Multilateral Air Services review.
As a result of this, the CTO Secretary General is optimistic that the CTO Aviation Task Force will be afforded the opportunity to make a presentation to next month’s meeting of CARICOM Heads of Government in Trinidad and Tobago.
Riley, who will be in Toronto for Caribbean Week activities on June 26 and 27, believes the Canadian market needs “some stimulus and attention”. Canadian arrivals to the region have been down for several destinations for the first quarter this year including the Bahamas
(-16.3%), Jamaica (-12.3 %) and Barbados (-9.9%).
Riley believes that there should be more focus on database marketing for the Canadian, with a focus on who is coming to the Caribbean from Canada. This information could be used to identify loyal repeat visitors and reward them and to tailor the tourism product to match the type of visitors coming to the region.
On expanding Caribbean Week in Toronto to incorporate some of the activities featured at the New York events, Riley said some of this can be achieved once CTO members determine that the Canadian market is of critical importance to them and put in the resources needed.
He noted that the Caribbean Week in New York will always attract a bigger and wider audience and participation because approximately 50 per cent of the region’s tourism business comes from the U.S.
CTO Chairman Beverly Nicholson Doty has identified a major improvement in standards and consistency of service to significantly improve visitor experience in the region as one of the major goals of the organisation that was a key agenda item during Caribbean Week in New York.
The U.S. Virgin Islands Commissioner of Tourism said the CTO’s Total Visitor Satisfaction Programme is the means to bring about the desired changes in visitor experience and after a successful pilot in six countries; the CTO is ready to roll out the programme to the wider membership.
“We did a lot of work on the methodology of gauging visitor feedback. We had to ensure we were comparing apples with apples. Now we have to get a lot of buy in from our member countries,” she said in an invited comment.
The TVS programme will be delivered under a train- the- trainer arrangement to ensure there is consistency in assessing visitor satisfaction and that the programme is conducted on a long-term basis.
The CTO Chair said the region has to get the message out internationally that the Caribbean has much more to offer than sunshine and beaches. More emphasis should be placed on the rich culture, diversity, heritage, culinary and other authentic offerings.
She agreed that there is huge potential for the region to market itself as one of the best destinations for medical tourism, providing an appealing warm weather and attractive ambience for patients to recuperate. In addition, the CTO Chairman believes another big market for the Caribbean is wellness tourism, capitalising on the many medicinal herbs in the region and sea salt for re-energising and healing purposes.
She cited as one of the highlights of the 2013 New York Programme the Invest Caribbean Forum, which identified many investment opportunities in the tourism and hospitality sector. In particular, she feels there is considerable scope for engaging the Caribbean Diaspora to encourage them to do more business in the Caribbean.
The CTO Chairman said steps will be taken to expand and improve the Vacation Mart which was inaugurated in New York this year. She acknowledged that bookings were “modest” but the forum has the potential for significant branding for the Caribbean.
The importance of CTO members working together to ensure the success of the joint marketing of the Caribbean as a premier tourism region and the benefits of strengthening public-private sector tourism partnerships are expected to be reinforced during the upcoming Caribbean Week in Toronto.
( Sandra Ann Baptiste is a Business Consultant and Specialist in Caribbean Affairs)
PULL QUOTE: ‘The region has to get the message out internationally that the Caribbean has much more to offer than sunshine and beaches. More emphasis should be placed on the rich culture, diversity, heritage, culinary and other authentic offerings.’ – CTO Chairman Beverly Nicholson Doty
