Today (Monday) is only one week that Annette Mark has been in her new job and the CEO of St. Vincent and the Grenadines Tourism Authority has already hit the ground running.
She’s a smart choice for the position with an impressive resume that includes being CEO of Invest SVG, Chief of Immigration for Antigua and Barbuda and a governmental expert for Antigua and Barbuda for the Working Groups of the Implementation Review Group of the United Nations Convention Against Corruption (UNCAC) and the Mechanism for the Implementation of the Inter-American Convention Against Corruption (MESICIC).
She’s got a hefty list of goals for the island nation this year, the first and perhaps most prominent is to raise overall awareness of the destination through an intensive marketing strategy.
“We need to benchmark ourselves with the other tourism authorities in the Caribbean and see where we land and what we need to do to bring ourselves up to that level,” Mark tells TravelPulse Canada over breakfast at Sandals St. Vincent and the Grenadines.
“What’s good is a lot of the hard work is already done; the strategic and marketing plans were already completed before I arrived. So now it’s up to us to implement the best parts of those and prioritize any areas that need improvement to really pull this all together.”
Having Sandals on the main island of St. Vincent – the only all inclusive – will be key in that marketing strategy.
“One of the things I realized when I was involved with the Sandals build and hotel opening, is that people come to Sandals, but they knew nothing about St Vincent,” says Mark. “Having a solid brand involved in our marketing and growth strategy is very important and will be very beneficial to increasing visitation.”
The island nation is facing big challenges, three of which are out of their control; The pandemic, the eruption of Soufriere in 2021 and Hurricane Beryl just last month. St. Vincent was one of the islands hit by Beryl and though some minor damage remains, the island is fully operational; in fact, Sandals St. Vincent and the Grenadines was operational the day after Beryl hit.
Those are three big hurdles that would be tough for any larger, more established tourist destination to contend with and yet they’re still standing and open for business.
The island nation is however facing a bit of a chicken and egg conundrum in terms of keeping the islands’ tourism sustainable while balancing and advocating for increased lift and hotel growth. Sandals has added 301 rooms to the destination, and there’s a Holiday Inn under construction in St. Vincent in addition to a handful of smaller brands across the islands, but the overall total inventory across St. Vincent and the Grenadines is still smaller than many Caribbean islands.
“I think that is one of the reasons our product has been sort of more upscale, we don’t have massive hotels like other Caribbean destinations, and we can’t. We just don't have the space and we have to be careful about how we develop the product.”
Then there’s getting there. Consistent and direct air lift has been iffy; Air Canada currently flies once weekly, the only Canadian airline to do so. Flights are still accessible to Canadians but via US airlines with connections that can act as a bit of deterrent to clients.
“It's been a little difficult executing our strategy, deciding what to do and when to do it, because for example, last year we started promotions throughout the winter and into spring and we definitely saw the upward trend from Canada,” says Shelley John, Director of Sales, Canada, St. Vincent and the Grenadines Canada. “But then the flights stopped.”
Both Mark and John say it comes back down to getting to the word out about the destination which sometimes includes online and travel review sites such as TripAdvisor. Mark says that while that’s something the Tourism Authority considers, nothing matches the credibility and knowledge of a Canadian travel advisor.
“That's where travel agents really become key because they're the trusted source. Especially if they’ve visited the islands personally,” says Mark.
“We want to engage travel agents through FAM trips and educational webinars to ensure they are equipped to promote the destination effectively,” adds John.
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