Jamaica Tourist Board stages multi-station remote
THE Jamaica Tourist Board (JTB) will crank up its promotional efforts today, when it begins a multi-station radio remote involving five stations from the United States at the Renaissance Jamaica Grande Hotel in Ocho Rios.
The stations will broadcast ‘live’ to their respective overseas markets, from 4:00 am to 2:00 pm daily, until Friday.
A number of local radio stations will also be broadcasting their programmes and interacting with their overseas counterparts including RJR 94’s Good Morning Jamaica with Alan Magnus and Dorraine Samuels; LOVE 101’s Morning Glory hosted by Allan Lewis, and Caribbean Hour with Arnold Kelly; and Radio Mona’s Caribbean Beat presented by Craig Young.
The overseas stations which will be participating include:
* XM Satellite Network, Washington DC, which reaches an audience of over 200 million in every US market from coast to coast;
* KISS-FM, San Antonio, Texas;
* WKST-FM, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania;
* WTAG-AM, Worcester, Massachusetts;
* and WQBA-AM, a Hispanic station in Miami, Florida.
With formats ranging from rock and contemporary music to news and talk, the visiting stations will be incorporating interviews with interesting local personalities from diverse fields to introduce audiences to Jamaicans and their culture. Representatives from the tourist industry, athletes, actors, comedians, musicians and palm readers are among the interviewees.
To ensure that the visiting crews experience the island to its fullest, the Jamaica Tourist Board has scheduled tours to various sites and attractions including White River Valley, Dunn’s River Falls, Dolphin Cove, Wassi Art, Island Village and Chukka Cove horseback-riding.
Coinciding with the broadcasts are “fly-ins” of over 300 travel agents who will participate in familiarisation tours of the Negril and Ocho Rios resort areas from June 19 to 24, organised by the JTB in collaboration with Air Jamaica and the Jamaica Hotel and Tourist Association. The first batch of over 200 agents were in Negril from June 19 to 22. The second group of more than 100 agents began their tour yesterday and will wrap up tomorrow.
The travels agents will experience the diversity and unique vacation opportunities that the resorts offer and will participate in site inspections of hotels and attractions. The agents will be arriving from Air Jamaica’s gateway cities — New York, Newark, Baltimore, Philadelphia, Miami, Fort Lauderdale, Houston, Chicago, Boston and New Jersey.
The radio remote and fly-in promotions form part of a major multi-faceted marketing thrust by the Jamaica Tourist Board in its bid to increase arrivals and fulfil its mandate to ensure that Jamaica remains the premier Caribbean destination. The promotions also follow a series of recent sales blitzes by the JTB’s overseas team in major markets across the USA, in collaboration with Air Jamaica and the Jamaica Hotel and Tourist Association. Television and radio advertisements promoting the island are currently being aired in the USA and the United Kingdom. Print advertising will be placed in the Italian market later this month.
“Amidst the challenges in the local and global tourist industry,” said tourism director, Paul Pennicook, we are pursuing a comprehensive marketing programme which is consistent, research-driven and focused. We are confident that this will generate positive impressions of our island which will translate into increased business for Jamaica in both the short and long term.