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Friday, March 29, 2024
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Tourism Enlisting Virgin Islanders Abroad for Marketing Campaign

Tourism Ambassador Sambala Boyd (right) displays USVI flag with (from left) Lt. Gov. Gregory Francis, Department of Tourism Director of Sales Kay Milliner-Kitchens and Helen George Newton of the VI Freshwater Association.Virgin Islanders living abroad are being asked to help promote the territory to others from the Caribbean, Tourism Commissioner Beverly Nicholson Doty said in a statement Friday.

“Many Virgin Islanders living abroad already serve as unofficial ambassadors of the Virgin Islands, recommending the islands to their friends and neighbors,” she said.

The request is part of a strategic campaign by the Tourism Department to encourage Caribbean nationals living in North America as well as the Caribbean to visit the territory.

To harness the marketing potential of its overseas population, Doty said the department launched and developed a USVI Ambassador Program to create a framework under which Virgin Islanders can actively promote the islands and help spread the message. As part of the program, more than three dozen Virgin Islands tourism ambassadors throughout the United States make presentations and distribute promotional materials at work and in the community.

“We have Virgin Islanders in just about every part of the world,” Tourism spokeswoman Allegra Kean-Moorehead said.

The ambassadors are all volunteers recruited by Tourism staff because they were leaders in their community or in some cases, classmates of Tourism’s staff. Kean said the cost for the ambassadors’ promotional materials and giveaways is minimal since it comes out of the stock kept on hand for trade shows and the like.

According to the press release, Tourism recently launched an essay contest on Facebook asking Virgin Islanders living in New York to explain what makes them a great ambassador for the Virgin Islands. Sambala Boyd, a singer, songwriter and model originally from St. John, won the contest with an inspiring story about sharing his culture. Boyd was rewarded with the opportunity to represent the territory alongside Tourism and other government officials during the Caribbean Tourism Organization’s Caribbean Week in New York.

While involving Virgin Islanders in promoting the islands, the department also seeks to entice more Virgin Islanders living abroad to vacation in the territory. In addition to those who have moved away, Nicholson-Doty recognized the value of another generation.

“There are many second-generation Virgin Islanders who were born on the mainland and have never been to the islands,” she said.

The commissioner is also looking further afield to the nationals of other Caribbean nations.

“There are hundreds of thousands of people of Caribbean descent throughout the United States and Canada who, like other North Americans, are looking for easily accessible tropical weather vacation getaways that offer a rich cultural experience. We want them to rediscover their Caribbean roots while enjoying the incredible vacation experience the USVI has to offer,” Nicholson-Doty said.

To assist the department in developing and implementing its strategy as well as encouraging more volunteers, Tourism contracted Marketplace Excellence, a marketing and public relations firm whose specialties include marketing to the Caribbean and the diaspora. Based in New Jersey with satellite offices in the Caribbean and Canada, Marketplace Excellence’s multicultural team is made up of a number of Caribbean nationals with a wealth of experience and contacts in the field.

“They are very well connected,” Kean-Moorehead said.

Kean-Moorehead said the department is paying $80,000 a year for the contract with Marketplace Excellence.

In the months ahead, Marketplace Excellence will spearhead efforts to reach Caribbean consumers through press visits to the territory for Caribbean and diaspora media, coordinating interviews with Tourism officials and the Caribbean media, and networking with influential journalists at the National Association of Black Journalists’ annual convention in Philadelphia.

Marketplace Excellence will also identify opportunities for Tourism to partner with Caribbean organizations and participate in Caribbean events that will help increase awareness of the territory. Other projects include further development of the V.I. Ambassador Program and social media programs.

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