The Caribbean Tourism Development Company (CTDC) is reporting that their website CaribbeanTravel.com is making significant strides in promoting the region to the world.
Meeting in Miami this month the CTDC board learned that 28 percent of visitors to its consumer website took the next steps and were tracked as leads, either to the destination or to specific hotels or tourism business websites.
“These early wins are encouraging as we ramp up,” said Beverly Nicolson Doty, co-Chairman of the board, “and we look forward to more successes as our strategic development unfolds.”
The CTDC is a cooperative marketing and business development initiative of the inter-governmental Caribbean Tourism Organization (CTO) and the private sector driven Caribbean Hotel and Tourism Association (CHTA).
“We will be encouraging members and non-members alike to sign onto the website, taking advantage of their free 180-day listing, and to remain engaged by regularly updating their information which adds rich content to the site,” said Richard Doumeng, CHTA President and co-Chairman of the CTDC.
To more widely spread the perks of the region the board urged more use of social media to identify influencers to support and guide traffic to the site and were additionally asked to identify “low, to no, cost” ways and means to promote a united Caribbean message.
As well as encouraging tourism-related stakeholders, Board delegates concurred on the need to engage the Diaspora and Caribbean residents to promote CaribbeanTravel.com, and to enlist Caribbean celebrities as voices of the Caribbean and as promoters of the site. Delegates also agreed on strategies for business development and attracting additional funding to deliver the mandate of the company.
Caribbean Tourism Development Company, www.CaribbeanTravel.com