SPEAK UP BARBADOS, the USA is listening.
Months before unveiling their new 200-room property, Sandals Royal Barbados, Sandals Resorts is spreading the Barbados buzz with a series of live radio broadcasts. Between July 12-14 and July 17-19, 20 USA radio stations will be on location at Sandals Barbados in Christ Church to endorse the island.
The 20 stations representing key cities across the USA including Boston, New York and Miami, were strategically chosen based on their reach in the markets with strongest airlift access into Barbados. Covering a range of genres such as Classic Hits, Adult Hits and Country, the total estimated reach of the broadcasts is 10 505 600 listeners.
Destination Barbados is set to receive two interviews on each radio station, for a total of 40 interviews, in addition to social media coverage across participating stations’ platforms.
Following the broadcast event, Barbados will continue to benefit, receiving two weeks on-air and digital exposure promoting a Sandals Resorts and destination Barbados contest for USA listeners.
Petra Roach, Barbados Tourism Marketing Inc. (BTMI) director for the USA., described the Sandals live broadcast as a game-changer.
“This is a massive initiative and a brilliant opportunity to showcase Barbados to the US, in a way that is unique and quite frankly – hard to ignore. We are always working to stimulate demand for the destination and the statistics show that Barbados has become more appealing to Americans. Business from the US has grown from 118 000 in 2014 to 169 000 in 2016.
“So far for this year, US visitor numbers are already up by 20 per cent over the same period last year, with 2017 projected to exceed 1987, which had the highest visitation to Barbados from the USA. ever. So we are incredibly excited about initiatives like this that get significant cut through and showcase the wonderful sights, sounds and colours of Barbados,” she said.
While on island, the radio announcers will also get the chance to experience Barbados thanks to tours sponsored by the BTMI, Harrison’s Cave and Cool Runnings Catamaran Cruises. (PR/NB)
