Celebrating the First anniversary of the Barbados Family and Friends Club

The Barbados Tourism Authority (BTA) and the Diaspora market are set to celebrate the first anniversary of the Barbados Family and Friends (BFF) Club on July 20, 2010.

The programme, which has been widely considered a unique initiative, was developed by the BTA to engage the relatively untapped Diaspora market segment, transforming them into an extended sales force and more dynamic ambassadors for Barbados.

In his anniversary message to club members, Minister of Tourism, the Hon. Richard Sealy, expressed his contentment at the performance of the programme thus far, while engaging other Barbadians and friends of Barbados in the market place to continue to support the programme.

“Since our launch in July 2009, 671 persons been inducted and a number of persons have already accumulated points. We are very excited by this as we believe that there are still hundreds more who will join up and begin to do the same, which will augur extremely well for Barbados' tourism and our economy as a whole. It also speaks to the patriotism and industry among you all, and a desire to give back to your country, which means a lot to us here on the island.”

In addition to the 671 members, awareness of the programme has been heartening during the one year period, with over 1,500 persons joining the Club’s Facebook page thus far.

Business generated from each market has been reflected in the overall member registration and points accrued, and so far, the USA leads with a total of 334 members and 19,500 points.

On a micro level, the top three performers on the programme have been recorded from the United Kingdom and the United States, and are as follows:

Director Marketing Services at the BTA, Averil Byer (below), has confirmed that members of the BFF Club can look forward to a generous anniversary bonus.

“We are very pleased with the progress of the BFF program in the first year and believe that the Diaspora and friends of Barbados have a key role to play in attracting visitors to our shores. The incentives we have put in place are working and new initiatives will be launched to celebrate the first anniversary, which will include bonus points for members.”

All new registrations made before the end of this August will receive a starting bonus of 250 points. Double points will now also be rewarded for business generated during the trough months of September and October 2010.

In addition, it has been confirmed that from July 21, all interested Barbadians and friends of Barbados residing within the European and Caribbean markets will now have the opportunity to register on the programme.

Over the past year, the BTA’s marketplace offices have heightened awareness of the programme through member training, launches and other meetings and seminars.

For further information on the Barbados Family and Friends Club, visit www.barbadosfamilyandfriends.com.

 

Numbers from French Islands up for barbados
 

Barbados has marked an increase in visitors to the island from the major French Caribbean markets of Martinique and Guadeloupe.

Figures at the end of June 2010 confirm this as Guadeloupe experienced an increase of 59.8% or 180 passenger arrivals to the island. Additionally, Martinique has experienced a slightly lower yet marked growth of 37.7% which translates to 284 arrivals to the island.

This increase can be accredited to the Barbados Tourism Authority’s (BTA) continued efforts within the said market through the Caribbean and Latin America Department, which was recently successful in securing a group of 24 interested persons from Martinique from July 5 to 8, 2010.

The members hailed from the Intergeneration Eglise Evangelique, a group from a Martinique based Baptist church. With a little nudging from the BTA, they decided on Barbados for their annual vacation travel, which has in the past taken them to various destinations including North America and other Caribbean islands.

The leader of the group, Julien Pontat, reported that the members loved Barbados and enjoyed the island’s offerings tremendously.

Business Development Manager, Caribbean and Latin America, Stacey Hutchinson (right) considered the whole visit a success which boded well for leisure business coming out of that market in the future.

During their stay on the island, the members of the Association visited Bridgetown and took advantage of the attractive duty-free shopping. In addition, they also went on an island tour which included Harrison’s Cave.

The group was accommodated at the Almond Casuarina Resort.
 

Sports Travel resonating for Barbados in 2010

The year 2010 has truly echoed the BTA’s ‘year of soft adventure and sport’ marketing pitch, as boosts in arrivals have coincided with several noteworthy sporting events hosted on the island thus far.

Cricket leads this charge in attracting numbers to the island, since after the ICC Twenty20 West Indies Tour held in the region from April 30 through May 16, numbers for May rose by 21.1% or 8148 visitors over 2009.

For this period, the traditional markets for cricket enthusiasts, namely the United Kingdom, Trinidad and Tobago and other CARICOM countries, also recorded notable growth of 6.4%, 66.6% and 6.3% in arrivals respectively.

Less traditional markets including countries such as India and Australia saw a combined increase of 89.5% over the 2009 May period.

Also during this period, persons traveling for sporting purposes rose to 1835 visitors or 309.4% over 2009, marking the biggest purpose of visit increase for the May period and dwarfing the growth of business, conference and leisure travel.

This increment was also reflected throughout the local tourism distribution channels, as the accommodation sector marked a healthy 20.9% increase during the period of high sporting activity.

The influx of major sporting events began in January of this year when the island hosted HRH Prince Harry, along with HRH Prince Seeiso of Lesotho, during the Sentebale Charity Polo Cup at the Apes Hill polo facility.

Another major event boost came from April 24 to May 7, with the hosting of the BTA sponsored Fireball Worlds Championship sailing regatta which attracted teams from over 17 countries throughout the world.

June 10 through 13 witnessed the BTA’s efforts to explore and endorse other growing niches as the island hosted the inaugural Segway Polo World Championship 2010, the first ever championship of its kind to be held in the Caribbean.

These events have generated solid media coverage across the globe, through popular channels including NBC’s Today Show; UK publications the Sunday Express and The Daily Mail; and Hello! Canada.

This exposure continues to position Barbados top-of-mind throughout the sports world, as a competitive destination for hosting international sporting events.

 

Five more for the BTA’s Longstanding Visitors Club

(L-R) Sue-Ann Bishop, BTA Manager, Research and Development; Clive Goodall, Shirley Goodall, Jonjo Carruthers, Carol Carruthers, John Carruthers and Maria Bovell, BTA Marketing Executive.

The Barbados Tourism Authority (BTA) recently honoured five United Kingdom repeat visitors for their loyalty to the destination.   The induction into the Over Five and Twenty Sojourns in Barbados Club was held at the trendy Tapas restaurant in Hastings, Christ Church, where the new club members were awarded a plaque and a commemorative certificate.

In welcoming the special guests to the luncheon ceremony, BTA marketing executive Maria Bovell thanked them for making Barbados their choice of destination.   She noted that the Prime Minister of Barbados, David Thompson, had started a trend by inviting repeat visitors to his home in the winter months.  She continued by saying that Barbados had a long history in welcoming visitors – fifty years to be exact – and stated that some of Barbados’ neighbours had learnt from the destination.   “Imitation is the sincerest form of flattery,” Bovell pointed out, and ended by saying “We’re happy to host you.”

Also representing the BTA were the Director of Marketing Services, Averil Byer, Manager Research and Development, Sue-Ann Bishop and Corporate Communications Specialist, Kim Thorpe.

John and Carol Carruthers of Scissett, England were among the guests.  They were regarded as extremely special having visited more than 55 times.  They brought their son, Jonjo, to Barbados when he was only six months old.  He is now twenty years old, and over the years has continued the Barbados habit.   He calculates that he has visited 32 times.   Asked what the attraction was, Jonjo said “You meet some nice people and you can feel safe.  It’s like a second home…comfortable.”   His father added, “I know my way around Barbados more than I do at home.”

Clive and Shirley Goodall of Cannock, England were also at the luncheon presentation.   They had visited Barbados approximately 35 times.    Shirley said that she would tell people, ”You have to go to Barbados.  It’s the only place where I can completely relax.”   There is another attraction for her husband, Clive.   “I’m the greatest karaoke performer.” In Barbados, he can enjoy the entertainment every night of the week.

Both the Carruthers and the Goodalls agreed that it was highly accepted in the United Kingdom that Barbados is the vacation destination of the stars, the place to go. To the average Briton  Barbados is truly inspirational.

The Carruthers and the Goodalls are perfect examples of why Barbados can boast of  40% repeat business.

 

Exceptional Exposure continues out of Quebec Fam

The rave reviews out of the recent Quebec press familiarization trip to the island have not stopped, as final coverage on the island is surpassing all expectations.

BTA Canadian PR agency, Weber Shandwick, confirms that since the last week’s update, more amazing coverage has been generated as a result of the Quebec Media Fam Trip.

Le Lundi, Quebec’s leading weekly lifestyle magazine carried a feature (right) that was initially intended to be a 2 – 4 pages but due to the experience the journalist has on the island, the feature grew to 6 full pages.

The equivalent advertising value of the extended feature rose to $43,500, reaching an audience of 513,000.

Besides highlighting some key points of interest on the island including the Oistins Fish Fry, Bathsheba and the St. Lawrence Gap, exposure was also given to the Food & Wine and Rum Festival to be held in November and to the Montreal direct flight service during the summer.

© 2010 Barbados Tourism Authority
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