Q & A with Carol Hay, CTO Marketing Director for UK and Europe

Jamaica’s Carol Hay was recently tapped by the Caribbean Tourism Organization (CTO) as the new Marketing Director for the UK and European markets. This veteran professional, who has worked in tourism for a number of years, has a Master’s Degree in Marketing and a Bachelor Degree in Administration. She has also served stints at the Jamaica’s Trade and Investment Agency and the Jamaica Tourist Board. Prior to joining CTO, Mrs. Hay was employed by the government of Antigua and Barbuda in the UK as Director of Tourism for the United Kingdom and Europe.

Q.- Over the past six weeks you’ve been quite busy getting updated about CTO’s work in Europe. What are the main things you’ve seen at the time of commencing your job at the helm of CTO in the UK and Europe?
A.- I think, first of all, it was about finding out who the main stakeholders are in Europe. For example, here in Spain it’s been good to meet with some of the tour operators, the NTO representatives, members of the media and get a feed as to what they feel we should be doing also to continue to promote the Caribbean, all of the Caribbean, in Spain.

Q.- Is this your first visit to Spain?
A.- In this capacity, yes it is. But I’ve been here many times as a tourist.

Q.- Then this gives you an idea of the Spanish market. What do you make of it?
A.- I think the Spanish market is a vibrant market, I think there’s a lot of potential here. I believe we’ve been very lucky about the Spanish market’s being very loyal to Spanish-speaking Caribbean islands. So, I think that because of that loyalty and the fact that the Caribbean is not an unusual market to them, I believe what we now need to do is to integrate Spain to other aspects of the Caribbean because in addition to the Spanish islands, we also have the English-, French- and Dutch-speaking islands. So, I think it’s a wonderful opportunity to say to them “you’ve experienced the Spanish islands and you’re loyal to them, and that’s wonderful. But why to sit down there? Why not take the opportunity to visit some of the other islands and also experience the vibrancy, the culture and the heritage of the entire Caribbean rather than restricting yourselves to just one or two islands?”

Q.- In your presentation you said that the top European outbound markets for the Caribbean are the UK, France and Spain. Why do you think this is so?
A.- I think the UK is a good market for us because it benefits from having scheduled flights into the Caribbean, you know, from the two main carriers, Virgin Atlantic and British Airways. For the northern and southern European markets, sometimes we have to go into charter arrangements and it may not always be feasible to have a year-round charter in some markets. England benefits from having scheduled flights and if we continue to grow the Caribbean brand and support that Caribbean brand, I believe we will also eventually benefit from having scheduled flights from northern and southern European gateways.

Q.- In your presentation you also referred to the challenges, the progress and the drawbacks of trying to increase and expand the market. What do you think it has to be done at CTO to overcome these difficulties and challenges in an effort to ramp up the potential of the Spanish market and other markets from across Europe?
A.- I think the first thing is to familiarize the people with what the Caribbean is about. I think that if you don’t know a region it’s then very difficult to choose it above any other. So, we have to work very closely with representation companies, the NTOs (national tourism organizations) and the tour operators to ensure that both the sellers –the retailing travel agents and tour operators- and the consumers –the traveling public- know what the Caribbean is all about, know how to actively reach the Caribbean and also to be aware of the type of accommodation and experiences offered in the Caribbean. I think at the end of the day it all goes down to knowledge. If we have a clearer knowledge of what the destination is all about, then the selling process becomes a lot easier and that’s what the CTO has to do. We need to ensure that people know where the Caribbean is, what it has to offer and that is available to everyone.

Q.- In the six weeks since you took over this job, have there been any promotion actions? Are there plans in store for the near future?
A.- Yes, I think we need to visit markets, such as the Spanish market, on a regular basis and make the visits viable by meeting with the stakeholders, holding training programs, educational days and, of course, we have to work very closely with the press as well and also try to have more and more media representatives visiting the Caribbean. Technology has done so much for travel but I think technology will only remain a viable communication tool if we provide the right images and the right information so that people actually want to go on a website and find out more about the Caribbean and book a holiday. So, we have to really work with the media and all forms of media to ensure that the Caribbean remains interesting, positive and attainable.

Q.- The Caribbean is mostly known across Europe as a kind of sun-and-beach tourism. However, there’s an increasing trend in the Caribbean of trying to lure more visitors through culture and history. How do you value this new approach?
A.- I think it’s an excellent idea. On a personal level, when I visit a destination I want to find out more about the culture, the heritage and the people, and at the end of the day I guess that’s what people want. As I said earlier, we benefit from technology so much. In our own homes we have DVDs, CDs, laptops, we have so many different types of communication tools and through these communication tools we can learn more about the world and through this level of increased knowledge you find out that when people travel they no longer content just a life on the beach, they want to find out more.

Another thing we need to focus on is sports. Certainly in the last Olympics, sports did so much more to put the Caribbean on the map. You have great athletes such as young Usain Bolt from the island of Jamaica and who made such a statement in the last Olympics. I believe it’s a combination of all these things what inspires visitors to a new country to find out more. That’s why I believe the tourism stakeholders, responsible for a product of an island, need to focus a lot on the experience visitors have when they enter the Caribbean. We need to push the different types of food we have, our local beers, our cultures, our sporting icons, our music icons. There’s so much that the Caribbean has to offer and I think we should proudly showcase what we have and share it with the world.

Q.- Your presentation also broached the issue of safety and security –something which is highly important in these times. But you also mentioned, and we all know that, that security measures are sometimes quite annoying to visitors. Is CTO working with local or regional governments to try to ease these restrictions and take them down just a necessary level?
A.- Each and every island has its own safety and security guidelines, but I think what we’re trying to do in the Caribbean is not to compromise so much on security. We must have security measures in place, but what we need to have is an efficient set of security measures in place so that people don’t need to spend hours in lines for customs and immigration. That shouldn’t be. But at the same time we must work to improve the efficiency in which we conduct our security measures, but it’s necessary.

Q.- A few days from now we’ll have the Taste of the Caribbean in Puerto Rico, a culinary and wine event sponsored and organized by both CTO and the CHTA. Do you believe these are important activities to attend?
A.- Absolutely because when you have any Taste of the Caribbean in any country you’re showcasing not only the food that we have, the food that’s indigenous to the Caribbean or to that particular island, its meals, but also the young talents, the number of young persons who work in the tourism industry. When we have these expositions and events, that enables them to showcase their talents and it instills a sense of pride in them about the industry in which they work, the skills that they acquire and the importance of those skills in promoting the excellence of their country to the visitors and to the world on a whole. So, yes, I think it’s very important to have these events that showcase not only the food, the music, the cocktails, but also the people who make it possible for the skills that they acquire.

Q.- There are lots of Spanish hotel chains and tour operators doing business in the Caribbean, with many properties and facilities there. What do you make of their investment there? Do you think they’re doing well?
A.- I can’t specifically say if they are doing well because that’s not something that I have investigated in the last few weeks, but I do know inward investments have many, many benefits, and certainly by having these Spanish hotels on some of the islands, particularly the non-Spanish-speaking islands, that opens them up for other markets because these hotels that invest in a country they already have their own distribution systems, either home or in some other countries, and therefore the database of people they have, people who have visited their hotels, for example in Spain, they are now open to visiting the same chain of hotels on other islands because they know the service. So, I believe that inward investment fuels new markets and new visitors to our destinations.