BRADES, Montserrat (December 15, 2010) – Tourism consultant Catherine Leech concluded a one-week visit to the island to audit the Montserrat Tourism Board’s Marketing Strategy today and told members of the media that the private sector is overly reliant on the MTB to handle their marketing.
“In speaking with members of the private sector, there is a heavy reliance and belief that the Montserrat Tourist Board should do the marketing for local businesses. Anyone with a business has to do their own marketing,” Leech stated. “What the tourism board provides is support to sell the overall product which is Montserrat.”
Leech’s project is funded by the Department for International Development and Trade (DfID) which is of the opinion that access to the island has increased but this has failed to bring the expected results of more visitors. Her terms of reference involves meeting with various stakeholders to assess the MTB’s marketing strategy and whether it needs to be changed.
The consultant, who has significant experience in the Caribbean travel industry, said the subject of access to the island, has been a recurring theme. She added that tour operators on Antigua are very reluctant to sell Montserrat as they have no confidence in the ferry service, which is a key aspect for getting day trippers. This lack of a day tripper market has significantly affected the taxi drivers, restaurants and souvenir shops.
“Montserrat was once the envy of Caribbean Tourism in the 1980’s. You have clear assets such as the dive world, eco tourism, the share natural beauty of the island, and adventure tourism,” added Leech. “As with all destinations, you have challenges and yours is with access and the confidence in that. There is also limitation with the products that are available. The lack of a signature hotel on Montserrat has to be considered. A signature property tends to improve opportunities to a ready market at no additional costs to the island.
“I am very impressed by the MTB’s marketing effort but aware that it is not turning into significant numbers. One factor is not being able to sit at your computer and book a through flight straight to Montserrat. There are very few places in the world, where you can no longer do this. People want to sit at home and plan their holiday without much effort and Montserrat is not in international flight systems,” Leech stated.
The consultant also believes that tourism has gone off the radar of the local agenda outside of those in the industry. “I was very surprised that tourism is not on the educational curriculum of schools, particular for a country whose economy is so aligned with tourism. Blaming the tourism board is very acute and tourism must become higher on everyone’s agenda.”
Leech has three weeks to submit her final report on the strategy which will include her recommendation that “Montserrat needs to drill down to key its markets and speak to them directly and not try to be all things to all men.”
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