JTB outlines plans to restore industry

THE JAMAICA Tourist Board (JTB) outlined some of its advertising and public relations strategies aimed at restoring normality to the local tourism industry.

Mr. Noel Mignott, JTB's deputy director of Tourism for the Americas, said representatives from the Tourism and Sport Ministry and the JTB would be meeting with Jamaican communities in the Americas during the month of October.

"On October 2 we'll be back on the road in Jacksonville; on October 4 we, along with the Tourism Minister, Portia Simpson Miller, will be meeting with the Jamaican community in Toronto, Canada. On October 7 we'll have a big night in Boston with the Reggae Boyz and we plan to make that into something quite special; and on October 18 we'll be in Chicago. The short story is that we're back in business in the marketplace," he said.

Mr. Mignott was speaking at a press breakfast at the Hilton Kingston on September 28. He said the JTB would be inviting more travel agents to the island before year-end, in addition to the 300 that were currently in Ocho Rios, St. Ann.

"The entire world is operating under the pain of disaster and the threat of war due to the terrorist attack on the United States, but we (JTB) had to get on with business. Our first order of business was, as of September 12 we got on the phone with our travel partners because people were concerned about what was happening to their clients and we had the travel agents scheduled to come to Jamaica. Getting people to travel again had to be a critical part of the strategy," he said.

Mr. Mignott noted that having addressed the travel agents, the JTB's next step was to convince the rest of the American people to travel.

"So we went into the marketplace and did research, which has guided the way we are positioning Jamaica in front of the consumer and its guiding what we do in sales, public relations and advertising," he said.

Research

Mr. Mignott pointed out that research had shown that although people's plans might become strained and there was a lower level of interest in travel, "there is still a feeling that people are unwilling to change plans."

"There is almost a rallying cry that changed travel plans is literally giving in to terrorism and so they will travel. Our conclusion is telling us that persons want to travel, but the research is guiding us as to how we bridge that gap to make them want to get on a plane and go somewhere and that is going to be a part of our whole strategy as we move forward," he indicated.

The Deputy Director of Tourism noted that with the support of its advertising agency, the JTB "got an advertisement out that was currently being aired.

"The advertisement is designed in a very specific way. There is no call for action and there is no hard sell, but the good news is although it doesn't say the JTB, our phones started ringing with travel agents and consumers calling to thank us and congratulate us," he said.

Mr. Mignott said the second advertisement was in progress and "We'll go back to New York to get that done and the mode is different from this."

"It is important that although people want to get flying the way these messages are crafted it will make the difference with their choosing Jamaica," he added.

With regard to sales, he said while travel agents would be coming to Jamaica, the JTB would go back on the road with seminars. "We're looking very closely at different markets to make sure that whatever we're doing we have some response," Mr. Mignott stated.

"The other element of our work is public relations (PR) and we have started work in that area and there are some new and exciting ideas coming out from the JTB, PR agents and the hotel sector," he added.

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