REGULAR?READERS will know that I am a keen advocate of the concept of smart partnerships. In almost every case they enable an overall win-win scenario for participants and allow even small marketing budgets to reach either a larger or more targeted audience.
There are some good recent examples, like American Airlines and JetBlue, who you would think were arch rivals, partnering with the NYC & Company, the official tourism bureau of New York City whose members have collectively set a target to attract 50 million annual visitors to that city by 2012.
Another is The Bahamas working with MasterCard to increase overall visitor value for money while at the same time raise average spend with the Find Your Way programme. So far, spending is up five per cent – a not so insignificant figure, especially during a global economic recession.
Of course, there are still opportunities for Barbados, if we seize the day and before one of our competitors again takes the lead.
After Easter, tourism traditionally goes into a shoulder period and obviously we are not alone. Some of the larger airlines that operate here try and stimulate travel with either reduced fares or, in the case of American Airlines, a lower mileage requirement for their 50-plus million frequent flyer members.
For as little as 25 000 miles you can obtain a return ticket to Barbados from any point served by AA in North America.
The new non-stop service from Dallas/Fort Worth has made this option even more attractive because it eliminates what many perceive as higher airfares from greater distances.
At the moment this Dallas/Fort Worth flight gives us a distinctive marketing advantage over our Eastern Caribbean neighbours.
But to capitalize on this position, we as a destination can go one step further by purchasing blocks of mileage, which in turn could further reduce the miles needed to reach us. Now, bear in mind that somewhere around 20 million to 30 million people have already accumulated sufficient miles to reach us.
The apparent reluctance to initiate a national campaign targeting this vital and growing segment may just be down to not understanding the concept. This is perhaps where specialists like International Customer Loyalty Programmes plc. could assist.
Staying with smart partnerships, Arnold Leonora, a 20-year aviation veteran who heads the ABL group, has recently purchased Dutch Antilles Express Airlines and plans to turn Curacao into a major Southern Caribbean hub. The airline currently services Bonaire, Valencia and Caracas in Venezuela, Santo Domingo, Aruba, St Maarten, Bogota and Cartagena [in Colombia], and Panama.
With the current absence or any real competition to LIAT in this part of the region, it is time perhaps that we sat down with other airlines in the Caribbean to look at ways we can forge mutually beneficial cooperative agreements?
I am not sure discussions to make this happen can be left to Government anymore to ensure this becomes a reality.
There seems to be a huge conflict of interest, having ploughed millions of taxpayer dollars into propping up an airline in the past while remaining its single largest shareholder.
But is the private sector up to the task?
