Revised tourism branding soon

Officials are closer to coming up with a new rebranding campaign and slogan for the island’s tourism product, aimed at enticing locals and visitors to enjoy more of what is on offer.

This indication has come from Minister of Tourism and International Transport Senator Lisa Cummins who said the newly-formed Tourism Reboot Panel, which is chaired by Vice Chancellor of the University of the West Indies (UWI) Sir Hilary Beckles, was putting final touches on a preliminary report that was submitted last week but sent back for further review.

“The Tourism Reboot Panel report was submitted to me in draft late last week. There are still some changes that have to be made to the report,” Cummins told a recent state of the tourism industry breakfast meeting at the Barbados Hilton.

This comes two months after controversy erupted over the slogan of a rebranding and marketing strategy introduced by the Barbados Tourism Marketing Inc. (BTMI) in mid-May with the slogan Little Island, Big Barbados – a play on the variety of offerings in various market segments in a “small” island.

Dubbed a national tourism marketing committee at the time of its launch, the panel was set up to focus on the strategic marketing of niche tourism.

The committee was described as a forum for leaders to assist in the development and implementation of marketing strategies, and to provide a platform for national cross-sectoral participation and buy-in in domestic and international markets.

The panel is made up of 18 members, including individuals and representatives from a range of agencies and institutions ranging from culture and sport to health and international business. Representatives of the ministries of Maritime Affairs and the Blue Economy, Foreign Affairs and Foreign Trade, as well as the UWI, labour unions, the private sector and the Royal Barbados Police Force all make up the committee.

Cummins explained that it was critical for Barbados to “create local buy-in” even as major efforts are made to sell the island to visitors as a desirable international brand.

“We had to find that careful balance, and a reboot panel has submitted a preliminary report with several options that they want to be able to make recommendations on,” she said, adding that the team has had several meetings already.

“They have said there is a clear indication that there must be sensitisation about what is international marketing and what is international branding for tourism product as distinct from what is local buy-in and how those two things must and can pair together in one single package,” said Cummins.

She opted not to say what suggestions have been put forward so far, indicating that “in due course” the panel will be sharing its findings.

Submissions have been made from people around the world and the panel’s report will now map out the next steps in the rebranding campaign with the hopes of capturing the imagination of Barbadians and translate that into an international and domestic engagement campaign, said the minister.

She reported that the panel has been able to incorporate the We Gatherin’ secretariat, pointing out that there were significant brand assets that were created through the We Gatherin’ initiative before it had to be aborted last year as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic.

“We want to now bring a lot of that branding, a lot of that community involvement, a lot of those assets that had been created through the We Gatherin’ Secretariat, and while they were not announced at the time of the Reboot Panel, they have been integrated into the Reboot Panel. So we are looking forward very much to hearing their report,” said Cummins. (MM)