Vincent Vanderpool, Bahamas Tourism Director and candidate to CTO Secretary-General

Mr Vanderpool spoke to Caribbean News Digital at the recent ITB in Berlin about projects to make tourists to repeat their vacation experience in the Caribbean through an unforgettable experience once they come for the first time. He also referred to plans the Caribbean Tourism Organization has to open more offices across Europe.

By Jose Carlos de Santiago

CND: What are your plans as far as relations between the CTO and Europe are concerned and what´s your opinion about both the Spanish-speaking and English-speaking Caribbean?

VV: First of all, there´s not an English-speaking or a Spanish-speaking Caribbean. There´s only one Caribbean and that´s the Caribbean we want to represent in the future.

Research studies show that a person, who visits a particular destination and has had a great experience there, is not necessarily coming back to that same place the following year. You bet that person will opt for another destination elsewhere. Then, the first thing we must do is try to clinch an unforgettable experience for that person in any travel destination of the Caribbean, make sure that tourists come to Cuba one year and then switch to the Dominican Republic the next year and come to the Bahamas two years later. We must guarantee that tourists will keep coming back to the Caribbean time and again.

What we want to do in Europe is make sure the Caribbean will be the premier or the only destination for vacationers. Not the English-speaking or the Spanish-speaking Caribbean, but just the Caribbean.

CND: The CTO´s Europe Office is in the U.K. Will you open more chapters?

VV: We know all along that we need to rely on a broad and rock-solid network of chapters in Europe´s main countries. Our idea is not to keep just one office in the U.K. because that means we´re only catering to the English-speaking public. That´s why we´re considering opening an array of chapters in Europe´s main cities, and the good news is the chapter model in Europe is far better than the one in North America. We want to expand the number of chapters across Europe to make sure there´ll be a much broader representation.

CND: What do you make of FITUR?

VV: That question embraces a considerable part of our development plans. In the past, we used to pay not enough heed to those we were supposed to, so this has generated the mistaken belief that there´s a gaping gap between the English-speaking and the Spanish-speaking Caribbean.

CND: FITUR is the world´s second-largest tourist fair, after ITB, however the CTO didn´t attend the Madrid tradeshow. What do you think of that?

VV: You´re right and I think you´ve hit the nail right on the head. The CTO has zeroed in on English-speaking countries, fairs and events. However, most business travelers coming from Europe go to the Spanish-speaking Caribbean. We ought to redirect this reality if we really want to bring this thing together.

CND: What plans are you going to implement in order to reel in more European visitors to the Bahamas?

VV: The Bahamas has a clear-cut edge because we´re a small Caribbean, a country made up of many islands bound together. What we want to do is to make each and every island tap into its own charms, that a tourists that visits one of those islands returns to tour the others. We want to do in the Bahamas exactly the same thing we´re trying to implement in the entire Caribbean.

CND: What portion of the Bahamas´ budget is earmarked for both Europe and the U.S.?

VV: The budget we have is split quiet unevenly, I mean, 80 percent goes to the U.S. and the remaining 15 percent is for Europe.

CND: Does the Bahamas have offices in Paris?

VV: We do have offices in Paris, Italy, Germany and the United Kingdom.

CND: And in Spain?

VV: No, not in Spain.

CND: Why not?

VV: Well, we don´t have offices in Spain because the Spanish market has well-defined interests: scuba diving, honeymoons, golf, and the Bahamas does not have the capability to meet those specific interests.

CND: You´ve got some pretty good plans in the offing for the CTO. I wish you luck.

VV: Thank you, sir.