I am a concerned admirer of Barbados who reside abroad. The slowly deteriorating economic situation on the island leaves me in bewilderment because there seems to be a lot of talk and no action. Nearly every day I read in the online press about more layoffs and business closures. Most of the writers on the blogs seem to be more keen on casting political barbs at one another than of providing creative, useful comments that might make Barbados better.
My profession has always been travel to the Caribbean and in Sweden. I see movement in the right direction from Aruba, Curacao, The Dominican Republic, St Lucia & Jamaica. I see nothing from Barbados. Barbados has a lot to offer the visitor. Unfortunately, the BTA does not seem to know their targets nor do they produce relevant information for their partners who sell the destination. Families, singles, honeymooners, wedding couples, seniors – all relevant market groups.
My question is:
What is there to do for them in Barbados?
How do you lure these persons to our shores?
What price?
How do we get them to return?
I am not here to tell the BTA what to do but they should be aware of what our competition is doing.
What is our competitors doing?
Weddings & honeymoons
One destination in the northern Caribbean has taken weddings and honeymoons so seriously that they have a Director of Weddings & Honeymoons. Not only their website but also a Facebook page with contact details and a telephone number that is open from 06.00 to 22.00 to cover all time zones in the USA as well as weekends for couples who MUST have an answer about their wedding choices now. Each wedding from the USA attracts at least 50 to 100 guests. In the southern Caribbean, one destination offers all honeymooners “One Cool Honeymoon” which includes the following:
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Complimentary bottle of champagne upon arrival
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Complimentary souvenir gift
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Certificate for a free night during the following year’s return stay
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Another destination is offering a sizeable discount
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“Companion Airfare Discount”. This offer applies to flights in all booking classes via LGW or via Hubs in the USA or Canada to the island. Clients
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Buy one return ticket and the second return ticket is greatly discounted- see below for details
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Weekday Departures from Europe US$777.00
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Weekend Departures from Europe US$824.00
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One island has a marketing offices sitting in Florida that monitors the sales of every flight from the USA to the destination. They know on a daily basis the loads of the flights.
If a gateway is not showing the performance they deem necessary, they contact their hotels, move their sales staff to the state to encourage sales and put offers in the market. This is proactive marketing.
The solution to our tourism turnaround lies in Barbados. We have creative marketing persons who can do the job. We can create the TV and radio ads required to promote Barbados – in Barbados. We have great photographers. I have seen their work which can compete with any other internationally. I have seen work in HTML & CMS locally which compete with the best. Why are we looking abroad? The best persons to help us – is us!
Lets get cracking.
On a lighter note.
If you are 55+ what is there to do after dinner in Barbados. Where do you go to dance and have fun? The Belair no longer exists. Am I ageing myself when I say Mary’s Moustache, Pepperpot, Alexandras, The Hippo disco etc? Where are the Barbadian entrepreneurs that made these places happen? The time has come to encourage them as well as the bands, the trios, the discos.
Let us have create an atmosphere that encourages good, clean entertainment and make it fun for Bajans to enjoy themselves.
The visitors will follow.
The blogmaster invites you to join the discussion.