Beache defends marketing decisions

Glen Beache, Chief Executive Officer (CEO) for the St Vincent and the Grenadines Tourism Authority (SVGTA), has responded to queries as to why this country is not being featured on the American cable network CBS’s One Caribbean Weather, saying that contrary to what persons may think, the service is not free.{{more}}

In fact, according to the former Minister of Tourism, the cost of featuring this country on the cable network is US$152,000 a year, based on proposals that had come from the company.

“If we were to sign on to a three-year contract, the price would then be US$142,000 a year,” he further contended.

Beache, speaking at a Carnival Development Corporation’s (CDC) press conference last Monday, March 28, further explained that despite it being one of the major American cable networks, it is not shown throughout North America, but rather in South Florida and throughout the Caribbean region.

“So when people see it and think that it is going throughout the United States, that is not so,” Beache said.

He further contended that it made no sense to spend that kind of money if it was going to countries such as Jamaica and Antigua, saying that it was better the SVGTA focused on its target markets.

“We would be better off pumping that money into countries like Trinidad and Barbados,” he said.

Meanwhile, the SVGTA’s CEO gave the assurance that the money that was being spent to market Vincy Mas was being well spent.

He said that the authority needed to focus on marketing outside the Diaspora, saying that the work of the SVGTA was not to market St Vincent to Vincentians but rather to ensure that the hotel rooms were kept full.

“We know that Vincy Mas is well known to the Diaspora and we know it is well known to a lot of Caribbean nationals around the world,” he explained.

“One of the things we try to do is to get the name out to persons who would never have heard of it (Carnival) before but would like to experience it,” Beache continued.

According to Beache, the SVGTA was currently engaged in looking at a couple of proposals, including one from the popular Trinidadian website ‘trinijunglejuice’.

He also said that they were looking for new ways to work with new television and radio stations across North America, Europe, Trinidad and Barbados which were among the bigger markets in the region.

Promotion of the festival will begin at the Vincentian picnic in Toronto next year, Beache said, adding that the SVGTA will also be marketing Vincy Mas at Caribana and continues with marketing strategies at the Notting Hill Carnival in England.

A decision had been made to discontinue marketing at the annual Labor Day celebrations in New York.

Beache cited the need to be more creative as the reason for the decision.

“We know that lots of Vincentians who live in New York would like to see presence in the celebrations, but in my opinion the organizers need to do some soul searching to figure out what Labor Day is about,” the CEO explained.