Comment

Comment by Northeast News on June 4, 2010 at 4:49pm

As someone who has specialized in bailing clients out of touchy p.r. situations, I'm not a bit surprised by this. The public lumps different states/provinces together (if there's trouble in Mexico's border towns, you can be sure the public will fear Cancun) and sometimes even entire continents (as in all Africa has civil conflicts, all western Europe except the UK ratted out on us after 9/11, etc.). Are we certain that most Americans can distinguish among different areas in Jamaica -- let alone the Caribbean? Anyway, I like your saying "Maybe some StL PR folks can shed light on it ..." That'd be interesting.

Comment by Patricia Borns on June 4, 2010 at 4:19pm

It does seem odd.. Maybe some StL PR folks can shed light on it ...

Comment by David Paul Appell on June 4, 2010 at 4:01pm

Makes sense to me, Patricia. It's just that what I found notable was that it was St. Lucia's tourism minister saying this.

Comment by Patricia Borns on June 4, 2010 at 3:53pm

Having just returned from Jamaica I can say that the entire country is shaken and hyper-sensitive about what's happened there, and of course deeply concerned about the impact on tourism. My view is that the Observer article is a reflection of this national sensitivity rather than an accurate market forecast. Already marketers and editors are at work promoting the gated resort meccas of Mo Bay and Negril located away from Kingston. (Personally I think the country has far better to offer but that's another subject.) If people are able to distinguish between Kingston and other destinations 3 hours distant, shouldn't they be able to distinguish btw Kingston and USVI, Stl. Lucia, etc?

Comment by David Paul Appell on June 4, 2010 at 2:53pm

Just came across this from the Jamaica Observer about the impact the bad stuff going down in Kingston on tourism across the Caribbean. Do you agree with this assessment?

"Jamaica unrest said creating problem for regional tourism

LAST week's deadly unrest in Jamaica's capital of Kingston has created a major public relations crisis for the Caribbean, St Lucia's Tourism Minister Allan Chastanet has said.

Chastanet, a former chairman of the Caribbean Tourism Organisation (CTO), told the Caribbean Media Corporation (CMC) that the region's tourism product is suffering from the television pictures of burning buildings, soldiers engaging gunmen in street battles and coffins containing bodies being splashed across the globe.

He said when visitors speak of coming to the Caribbean for a vacation, Jamaica is among the first countries that come to mind.

Chastanet said tourists view the Caribbean as a group of countries that are connected and 'there are some people that are not able to differentiate one island from another'."

Comment by iMadinina 4 iPhone on April 27, 2010 at 6:55pm

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yZBVFnzdG1Y

Comment by Steven Fox on March 3, 2010 at 3:12pm

Tony,
Could you take a look at a collaboration that we are doing with Cap Maison on St. Lucia? If so I'll forward over the details and press release..
Steve

Comment by Jordan Simon on March 3, 2010 at 2:49pm

Thanks for the shoutout. In fact it's a companion piece of sorts to a post I did a couple of weeks ago: http://travel.aol.com/travel-ideas/galleries/direct-flight-caribbea...

Allie, I wish I could, too, but the word-count restrictions are intense -- and while my editors do a fine job, inevitably some details, factual to evocative, are lost in the cutting and rearranging....

Comment by Allie McCoy on March 3, 2010 at 1:11pm

Jordan Simon writes well and seems to know these islands well, but I wish he had included names and phone numbers for the hotels.

Comment by José Balido on March 3, 2010 at 11:32am

Check out member Jordan Simon's excellent round-up of wallet-friendly Caribbean isles on AOL. Makes me want to start packing!!

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