Barbados targeting foodies for summer with new campaign

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The Barbados Tourism Marketing Inc. (BTMI) has partnered with the Expedia Group to offer even more value and further enhance the Year of Culinary Experiences 2018 with a special summer campaign, โ€˜Brilliant Barbados: Year of Culinary Experiencesโ€™. The campaign places a strong emphasis on Barbadosโ€™ rich food history and rum as they promote the destination as the culinary capital of the Caribbean.

The announcement of the new campaign was made during the Connect Barbados conference by William โ€˜Billyโ€™ Griffith, CEO of the BTMI. โ€œThe Year of Culinary Experiences is off to a great start. We recently launched it in our top source market โ€“ the United Kingdom, with much fanfare, and it was well-received by all in attendance. Everyone is excited to come to Barbados and to see what all the fuss is about. We think that partnering with a giant like the Expedia Group, on top of all the interest and intrigue the Year of Culinary Experiences is gathering, is going to bring a phenomenal boost to our summer business,โ€ Griffith said.

Under this campaign, visitors travelling to Barbados receive up to 40 percent off accommodation rates in participating hotels and access special dining options including lunch discounts at participating restaurants. The offer is valid for booking dates between May 1 and October 31, 2018 and the travel window is open until November 30.

Visitors and locals alike can enjoy top class dining at some of Barbados’ best restaurants for just US$50.00 per person, including VAT and service charge, and a bottle of wine per couple for dinner. For lunch meals, the programme allows savings of 10 percent at participating restaurants.

There are currently over 20 accommodations participating in the summer campaign, across several categories. From all-inclusive options such as Sugar Bay on the South Coast, to boutique hotels such as The Atlantis Hotel in the East, and the recently renovated Fairmont Royal Pavilion on the West have come on board for this major promotion.

Those who book through Expedia will be spoilt for choice as they choose from 14 restaurants offering breakfast specials, 48 with lunch, and 30 for dinner as part of the Re-Discover dine-around programme.

Strong digital focus

โ€œWe are already marketing the summer campaign aggressively in all of our international markets through our traditional channels; however, we are also supplementing these efforts with a strategic, integrated digital marketing component,โ€ Griffith said.

The campaign is also supported by other digital initiatives including robust social media campaigns on Facebook and Instagram, as well as newsletters and online advertising in prime digital real
estate.

โ€œAs consumersโ€™ booking habits continue to diversify, we are charged with ensuring we remain competitive, particularly in the digital field. This is why we are especially excited about this partnership with the Expedia Group, which is not only our biggest Online Travel Agent (OTA) partners, but also the largest OTA in the world. Expedia naturally has a very robust digital marketing focus, and our in-house digital team is working very closely with them on this campaign, and beyond, to augment our efforts in marketing destination Barbados,โ€ Griffith added.

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Chief Assignment editor is Oleg Siziakov

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