Region must focus more on developing stronger marketing programme

Immediate Past Chairman of the Caribbean Tourism Organisation (CTO), Ricky Skerritt, has charged that the region is partly to blame for the decline in global market share for Caribbean tourism, having not been able to sustain adequate levels of investment in the marketing and development of its tourism assets.

He made these comments during the official opening ceremony of the CTO State of the Industry Conference 2012, which ended last Friday in St. Kitts.

Skerritt told delegates from around the region and beyond that more emphasis needed to be placed on developing a stronger marketing programme, adding that the CTO had strengthened its partnership with the Caribbean Hotel & Tourism Association (CHTA) and re-energised their joint venture, Caribbean Tourism Development Company (CTDC), with a view of “achieving greater specialisation in addressing our marketing and business development needs”.

The Host Tourism Minister of the conference shared that he was convinced that the future development of this venture would be one of the most urgent challenges facing CTO in the short term.

Already, as part of the venture, it has planned to redesign the CaribbeanTravel.com website to drive increased online bookings to the region.

“Contrary to what some people seem to think, airplanes, cruise ships and hotels cannot fill themselves,” argued Skerritt, who lambasted tourism ministers guilty of operating “as if we just need to open our doors and consumers will automatically show up”.

On the point of improved marketing strategy, Skerritt stated that research suggested an increase in the right types of collaborative public and private sector marketing was the region’s best hope for growing its share of the global travel market.

The CTO State of the Industry Conference is being hosted this year at the St. Kitts Marriott Resort & the Royal Beach Casino, under the theme “Developing a Winning Strategy”. (RA)