Untapped demand for Caribbean travel revealed by Barbados campaign, says TEMPO CEO

A regional tourism promotion centred on Barbados has revealed strong “untapped demand” for Caribbean travel, particularly among diaspora audiences in the United States, according to organisers.
The “Win a Trip to Barbados” campaign, led by TEMPO Networks in partnership with interCaribbean Airways and Divi Southwinds Beach Resort, generated more than 14 000 impressions, over 22 500 participant actions and engaged more than 1 800 unique users, according to Frederick A. Morton Jr., founder and chief executive of TEMPO Networks.

Nearly 69 per cent of participants were based in the United States, alongside what he described as strong engagement from Caribbean markets and the wider diaspora.
For Morton, the results point to a consistent regional trend: “The Barbados campaign reinforced a pattern we have observed across several recent destination initiatives, including campaigns for the US Virgin Islands and the British Virgin Islands. In each case, we saw the same trend: strong engagement from both Caribbean audiences and the broader US market. That tells us there is tremendous untapped demand for Caribbean travel, particularly among the Caribbean diaspora.”

The campaign demonstrated the continued effectiveness of culturally grounded messaging in tourism promotion, he added.
“The level of engagement we achieved demonstrates that when Caribbean stories are told authentically, audiences respond,” Morton said, noting that destination marketing is most effective when it is “authentic, culturally relevant, and delivered through platforms that already have the trust and attention of Caribbean audiences”.

Winners Erica and Winston Doras-Pemberton completed a five-night, six-day stay at Divi Southwinds Beach Resort on Wednesday after being flown here on interCaribbean Airways.
The initiative builds on TEMPO’s long-standing focus on regional tourism, said Mordton, noting that the network has spent more than two decades promoting intra-Caribbean travel, including early collaborations with the nowdefunct LIAT, where its “Win a Trip” promotions first gained traction.

The network plans to expand similar campaigns across the region, he sais: “We expect to announce another exciting destination in the near future as we continue making these campaigns a regular feature of TEMPO’s tourism initiatives.”

Morton also suggested that the Barbados campaign offers a template for wider regional collaboration among the tourism industry, airlines, hotels and media.