The Caribbean Comes Back to ITB Berlin
Q & A with Carol Hay, Marketing Director for the UK and Europe with the Caribbean Tourism Organization (CTO)
The 52nd edition of ITB Berlin has put together around 10,000 tourism companies from 186 countries and regions in an area covering 160,000 square meters at the Messe Berlin fairgrounds. Caribbean News Digital sat down with Carol Hay, CTO's Director of Marketing for the UK & Europe.
“ITB Berlin is the biggest show for us in Europe.” Those were the first words by Mrs. Hay, who explained that CTO attends other shows such as World Travel Market in London, “but we definitely enjoy being at ITB Berlin because there is so much business potential for the Caribbean in this market.”
The German market is a focus for all of the Caribbean, partly because Germany has no affiliation to any particular island, there is no German-speaking market in the Caribbean. It means that German visitors are free to select any of the destinations, whether it is an island, a country. They are free to select any of the places they wish to visit.
“Out of Germany, one of the challenges we have faced has been airlift, but I know that a number of our destinations are working with some charter airlines to secure airlift. Also, we try to have good connections out of the UK market, Dutch market, the Netherlands, France as well. Where there are no direct flights to the Caribbean from Germany, we also try to have good connections in place,” she said.
Several cruise companies sail to the Caribbean and cruises are definitely a great way for the German market to also experience the region. “A good thing about going on cruises is that they have the opportunity to experience more than one destination and through that experience, we hope that they will return to the Caribbean as stay-over visitors,” she pointed out.
As for the presence of Caribbean destinations at ITB, Carol Hay underscored the importance of realizing that some destinations work with representation companies and some destinations have very good relationships with tour operators, which work for the Caribbean to have great visibility here, at ITB.
“We use many strategies when it comes to selling the Caribbean. If any of our member countries is not here, the CTO has information that we can use, we can share for them and we can also pass any contact on to them. So, even if a country is not physically present, because they are members of the Caribbean Tourism Organization they also have some level of visibility.
“The Caribbean is of great interest to the Northern European visitor because the Caribbean provides good weather. Aside from the weather, we are working to be very sustainable destinations. We are focused on ensuring that we mitigate the impact of climate change. We are working to ensure that we have attractions and facilities that are not based on the weather.
“We also want to stress that there are so many experiences in the Caribbean. Yes, we are beautiful for beaches, but are also famous for adventure, nature, culture, heritage, gastronomy. Throughout the year, there are different carnivals and music festivals across the Caribbean. Visitors to the Caribbean also have the opportunity to experience the local life through “meet-the-people” programs and “home-stay” programs that are available across the Caribbean,” CTO's Director of Marketing responsible for UK & Europe said.
