Tuesday, May 2, 2006

by Bevan Springer, Amsterdam News

NEW YORK, USA: Dr James Hepple, Trinidad and Tobago’s Director of Tourism, says targeting the country's own expatriate nationals is part and parcel of the twin-island republic's plans to attract tourists from North America.

Dr Hepple told the Amsterdam News that, overall, his tourism department is resolved to attract more North American business, building upon the 35 percent market share that it currently makes up.

"That level of awareness of Trinidad and Tobago is not where it should be so we've got a lot of opportunities there," said Hepple, who until recently was Curacao's Director of Tourism after serving as a senior executive in the Bahamas Ministry of Tourism.

The tourism chief says the Caribbean-American travel market is huge and ought to be targeted year-round.

"Going to all the fetes and activities during the whole Carnival experience between Christmas to Ash Wednesday, I was fascinated by just how many of the Diaspora came home during that period and clearly had a good time," said Hepple, who notes “there is no reason why we can't get more of our people to come home and enjoy themselves and that's what we are looking to do."

Hepple said the main focus would be where national carrier BWIA West Indies Airways has non-stop service, New York, Washington DC and Miami. "We are beginning to find interest there ... and we think (it has) great potential," he said.

In addition to working with Diaspora media outlets, Trinidad and Tobago has partnered with BET and MTV, to reach an audience that is looking for cultural and musical experiences.

"Tobago now gets almost three quarters of its business out of Europe, and they are very interested now in getting more North American business, so we are looking at talking to the airlines and putting in place the product that's going to appeal to the North American market," Hepple continued, while announcing that a new Hyatt property will be unveiled in Trinidad next year.

Vincent Vanderpool-Wallace, the Secretary General of the Caribbean Tourism Organization, said recently that the region has a lot of potential cheerleaders in source markets that it is not taking full advantage of, and that Caribbean nationals ought to be invited to come back to the region more often.

“The vision we have is for people to see the Caribbean as people of great diligence, great intelligence, great talents,” he said, arguing that their talents should be tapped to serve the needs of the Caribbean and that their integration into the tourism sector will be better for the Caribbean as a whole.

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