WTM 2018 NEWS YOU CAN USE


Joint Caribbean campaign aims to halt fall in visitors


Katie McGonagle katie.mcgonagle@travelweekly.co.uk


The Caribbean has brought out its first joint marketing campaign for the region in “many years” to reverse a 1.2 million half-year decline in international visitor numbers following last year’s hurricanes.


The ‘Rhythm Never Stops’ campaign is a public-private partnership between the Caribbean Tourism Organisation (CTO) and Caribbean Hotel & Tourism Association, and tourist boards from the Bahamas, Jamaica, Saint Lucia, Grenada, the Cayman Islands, Martinique, and Trinidad and Tobago.


Phase one of the campaign is running across Facebook, Instagram and YouTube and will be rolled out across other channels and markets as it continues. Hugh Riley, secretary-general of the CTO, said: “Our countries are on the way back. They’re at different stages of recovery, but you’ll see how far we’ve gone. “[The campaign] has already surpassed the initial targets. It’s deliberately a Caribbean campaign,


TOBAGO: Parlatuvier Bay


Tobago upgrades trade training and reveals ‘Beyond’ campaign


Tobago has unveiled a new brand identity to distinguish the island from other Caribbean destinations, and revealed plans to upgrade its agent training with a rewards-based scheme. The ‘Tobago Beyond’ brand is


RECOVERY: Hugh Riley says: ‘Our countries are on the way back’ “One of the things we saw is that


“It’s deliberately a Caribbean campaign, it is not about any specific destination”


it is not about any specific destination within the Caribbean.” Dominic Fedee, CTO chairman and minister of tourism, information and broadcasting for Saint Lucia, said: “We didn’t have the firepower in mareting funds and resources to respond to the brand damage that was caused [by the hurricanes in September 2017].


even the countries that were not affected did suffer brand damage. We came together. We saw that out of crisis, sometimes comes opportunity, and we took the time to come up with a regional marketing campaign for the Caribbean, which we had not done in many years.” Fedee reported a drop in


stayover arrivals – excluding cruise and day-trip visitors – between January and June 2018 of 1.2 million, with year-on-year drops of 1.2% from the UK, 6.7% from Germany and 15.8% from the US. But visitor numbers were up by 0.3% from Europe as a whole


and 4.7% from Canada. onecaribbean.org


centred around four themes: sea and beaches, ecotourism and soft adventure, culture and heritage, and romance and weddings. A hashtag, #101thingstodointobago, focuses on the island’s activities. Louis Lewis, chief executive of


the Tobago Tourism Agency, said: “The trade has had difficulty in trying to discern the unique selling points of Tobago, so we have segmented it into four pillars and invited them to sell it in those ways. It’s all centred around what to do in Tobago.” A new trade training and


rewards programme is also due to launch for UK agents before the end of the year. Lewis said: “We have an incentive to recognise and reward agents


who generate business for us.” visittobago.gov.tt


PICTURE: WORLD TRAVEL MARKET/ALEX MAGUIRE


PICTURE: SHUTTERSTOCK


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