Heavier focus on promotion, sales needed

GRENADA’s Tourism Minister, Alexandra Otway-Noel, has said that the country must shift into a higher gear where the promotion and sales of its tourism product is concerned.

Commenting on the move from a tourism Board to Tourism Authority, during an interview with staff of the Caribbean Tourism Organisation at the recently concluded World Travel Market in London, Otway-Noel said that such a focus was going to be the charge of the latter Tourism Body.

“The Tourism Board has been in existence for a very long time, and [admittedly] some of the people there have been employed at the board for a very long time. But we’ve needed to up the ante as it relates to our technology and how we promote our destination,” she stated.

“The Tourism Authority is [in line with best practice], many countries are doing it and it is important that we find a strategy that works best. Our strategy needs to be on sales, marketing and promotion,” she further added.

Otway-Noel said that in the past, the tourism board has spent a significant amount of time on product development, often times becoming to occupied with “consuming, trivial details” that other agencies were suited to deal with.

“We need to sell our destination and we need to do it well, and keeping up with modern technology [will enable this]. We have a new formula and we have a wonderful team that we are going to be working with, both at home, in the UK, and around the world. We have to stop talking and start working,” the Minister remarked.

The Minister said that in the promotion of the island, it was critical that the preservation of the environment remained at the forefront. Noting that it was the island eco-landscape which made it unique, she remarked that Grenada would be choosing quality over quantity when it took on board any tourism-related project.

Otway-Noel went on to disclose that the government was currently engaging in several public-private partnerships to strengthen the island’s tourism product.

“[Truthfully,] I think in the Caribbean governments have too much responsibility in tourism, and do not always know what is the best course of action. You really need to rely on the professionals in the industry that have been doing it for 25 years and are the ones that are actually investing in the industry – let them help.”

She lauded Grenada’s private sector for the tremendous support it had shown, particularly in recent time, by coming forward to volunteer and assist wherever it could. (RA)