New opportunities are being presented to the membership of the Caribbean Tourism Organization (CTO) to reach a global audience at relatively low cost.
CTO and has signed an agreement with International Travel Communications (ITC), a US-based marketing and communications company, to capitalise on the success of CTO’s consumer website, www.doitcaribbean.com.
The website gets over two million visitors a year and, with this agreement, CTO is now taking advantage of its strong on-line presence to assist Caribbean tourism stakeholders by offering them on-line marketing opportunities in the form of web site banner advertisements, Arley Sobers, CTO’s acting secretary general said.
He said these opportunities will be offered to the entire CTO membership, including member countries, as well as product providers to the Caribbean such as airlines, wholesalers, hotel/resort owners, cruise lines, activity and event providers and tour operators.
“It has always been the aim of the CTO to provide as wide a window of opportunity for all its stakeholders to display their own Caribbean product on-line and for the entire world to be able to book,” Mr. Sobers said.
The “DoitCaribbean” website is available in five languages - Dutch, English, French, German and Spanish - and banners may be embedded within any of these language web sites; allowing product providers a vast global reach for attracting interested consumers.
“No matter the size or the geographic location of any Caribbean supplier to the region, the CTO’s goal is to level the playing field for all suppliers wishing to market their product in a most cost-effective, targeted way within the global marketplace,” said Hugh Riley, CTO’s director of marketing for the Americas.
“No arena, other than an on-line marketplace, can provide more qualified customers than those who are empowered to search out their own travel and tourism options on-line,” added Roy Stepanian, president of ITC. ” It is our shared goal with the CTO to provide a super Caribbean on-line information portal for those global web consumers seeking to find legitimate, timely and unbiased information and products on-line and for immediate purchase - no matter where they may reside on this planet.”
Since its inception www.doitcaribbean.com has been seen as “the official web site” for Caribbean tourism by the majority of global search engines, according to Mr. Stepanian.  This, he said, has added legitimacy to any information sought by those seeking the very best travel options on where to go, where stay and things to do in the Caribbean.
Meantime, CTO intends to reinvest all revenues from the sale of on-line advertising on the web site to further market and promote the site to consumers, Mr. Sobers said.
He said CTO chose ITC as its partner because of the company’s reputation in the area of marketing and communications specifically designed for the travel & tourism industry.
Through its partnership with the CTO, ITC has produced a menu of different banner advertising options for sale on-line and within the CTO web site.
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