Cudjoe: Nat Geo to do social media campaign for TT

JULIEN NEAVES

TOURISM Minister Shamfa Cudjoe has reported that Government has arranged with National Geographic to do a social media campaign to promote this country.

She made the announcement yesterday while delivering the feature address at the launch of Cable and Wireless New Hospitality Solutions at the Hilton Trinidad, Port of Spain.

In a subsequent telephone interview with Newsday, Cudjoe said her recent trip to the International Trade Bourse (ITB) in Berlin was with the intention of promoting this country. She reported her delegation met with National Geographic and arranged for a social media campaign to showcase sites and destinations in this country.

Cudjoe said three years ago National Geographic had done stories on this country using printed material and the ministry wanted to expand on this, pointing out that National Geographic has a social media following of more than 45 million. She explained initially the ministry will be providing National Geographic with stories and material but it was also interested in coming to Trinidad and to Tobago to visit sites, though these arrangements have not been completed yet.

The ministry will be updating and transforming material into a social media campaign in different categories, such as culture and eco-tourism, and after this is completed, in about two months, the campaign will run for six months. The CEO of National Geographic told her on Wednesday that the organisation was excited about seeing the country, she said.

Asked about the cost of the campaign, Cudjoe said she did not have the information at hand but would provide it to Newsday in due course.

She also reported the ministry has made an arrangement with hotels for exposure in luxury magazines, and that a lot of Germans and others in the European market were excited about Trinidad, adding that previously most of the promotion was about Tobago.

“The two-islands (marketing approach) has placed a laser focus on each island.”

She said the BBC was also interested in talking to people in this country and in how so many different races and cultures are “doing their own thing.”

She added: “People need to know more about T&T and see what T&T has to offer.”

She also reported at the ITB the ministry was able to secure the DER Touristik Campus Tour, which is a German mega-media familiarisation trip which will see German travel operators visiting various destinations and training and exchanging information with various stakeholders. The tour will begin with a number of islands, including Tobago and Martinique, and culminate in Trinidad, where more than 140 travel agents will engage in culture and attractions.

She said the conversations about the tour started at the World Travel Market in London last year and since then German travel operators have visited this country twice to check out the local product. She reported the tour will be in December and will last a week.

On the ITB she said the team that went was small, but the trip was “very successful.”