Minister Beache announces new tourism slogan for SVG

Though former Parliamentarian Ken Boyea, the guest speaker at the Ministry of Tourism’s annual planning meeting alluded to a crisis in the tourism sector, Tourism Minister Glen Beache was greatly encouraged as he delivered his address, stating that the industry has progressed greatly over the past five years. This progress, according to Minister Beache, was partly due to the work done by his predecessor in the Ministry, René Baptiste.{{more}}

At the meeting held at the Anglican Pastoral Centre in New Montrose, last Tuesday July 4, Beache told the tourism stakeholders that it was his opinion that the industry needs to concentrate a lot on product development. Without this development, Beache contended, much more could not be put into marketing.

The Tourism Minister took a swipe at the nation’s tourism website, calling it “a waste of time” adding that he is willing to spend up to $250, 000 on a website if it is interactive, as he believes there is untapped internet marketing potential.

Beache also used the opportunity to introduce this country’s new Caribbean Tourism Marketing representative, Lonsdale Saatchi and Saatchi Advertising Limited out of Trinidad. This company was chosen after a process of tendering by five companies.

Ken Attale, group Chief Executive Officer of Lonsdale spoke to SEARCHLIGHT at the meeting and said of St. Vincent and the Grenadines: “I don’t think there is, genuinely, any Caribbean destination that has the menu of things to offer as St. Vincent and the Grenadines.” Hence the change of this country’s marketing slogan from “Jewels of the Caribbean” to “St. Vincent and the Grenadines, The Caribbean You’re Looking For.” This new slogan revealed by Minister Beache is set to take effect from January 1, 2007.

Attale also said that he is convinced that the Caribbean Market is one that needs attention even as he reflected on the large sums of money spent by Barbados and Grenada to market their islands in Trinidad. He reasoned that such investments would not be made yearly if they were not seeing returns on their investment.

Also addressing the meeting was Director of Tourism, Vida Bernard, who said that the image of St. Vincent and the Grenadines presented to travelers is essential as the success of the industry and can be easily destroyed by negative publicity.

In her brief remarks Vice-President of the SVG Hotel and Tourism Association, Bianca Porter, stated that because of the competition faced by the tourism industry, the private and public sector must work closely together in order to survive.