The Bahamas’ tourism public relations machinery tallied an equivalent of $1.08 million in free media placements for the country in the first two months of 2013, the Ministry of Tourism reported.
The total of 728 print and online media placements in January and February reached 54.9 million people. If the placements had to be paid for, the cost would be more than $1.08 million said Geneva Cooper, Sr. director of Communications in Ministry of Tourism.
“Pubic relations is a very important part of what we do internationally,” Ms. Cooper said. “Advertising is one thing but everybody knows that your advertising would only speak positively about you. Through public relations, we are working with reputable newspapers, magazines, social media channels and other media to highlight the best of The Bahamas. These are third-party endorsements by journalists and publishers who are objective and fair. So the public relations is really invaluable. You could not pay for what we are getting.”
Inspiring stories of The Bahamas were placed in top travel trade and consumer publications such as Travel Weekly, New York Post, Orlando Sun Sentinel and FoxNews.com. Many of the stories were placed through the Ministry of Tourism’s Visiting Journalist Program (VJP), which pitches story ideas to journalists, who write on a variety of travel experiences.
“VJP has been a very effective tool,” Ms. Cooper said. “When consumers read about what it is like at Chat N Chill in Exuma, the Fish Fry at Arawak Cay in Nassau or the Glass Window Bridge in Eleuthera, it builds desire for travel to our islands. What is so good about the articles is that the journalists experience these things first hand. So their perspectives are authentic and readers can tell that it is a bona fide travel writer’s opinion, which supports our advertising efforts and showcase the islands as ideal vacation destinations.”
Recent VJP successes included articles on Marathon Bahamas at Men’sFitness.com, Running Times and Toronto Globe and Mail and stories about island hopping through the Exumas at FoxNews.com.
By Tourism Today
