In 2018, the Anguilla Tourist Board (ATB) launched its Beyond Extraordinary destination campaign which aims to capture the diversity and richness of the Anguilla experience, and promote the organisation’s mission – to inspire travel to Anguilla.
Mr Georgios Tserdakidis, Chief Marketing Officer, and Ms Chantelle Richardson, Coordinator for International Markets, appeared as guests at the government’s press briefing on Monday, March 3, and spoke about the strategies that the ATB is working on to promote its mission.
Mr Tserdakidis noted that “the strategic pillars of the ATB are built towards international marketing” – tactics he hopes will help the marketing team achieve its goals for the 2022-2023 tourism season and beyond. Speaking at the briefing, Mr Tserdakidis presented the ATB’s marketing strategy.
• Maximise the Leisure Travel Market
The ATB is investing heavily into a partnership with American Airlines to get the Miami/Anguilla flights full.
Mr Tserdakidis stated: “We want them [American Airlines] to be successful…Anguilla has become so much closer to the US than it had been before. We [now] have a one-stop shop, even for travellers coming from Europe. This is a great opportunity for us.
“We have engaged with different travel brands on global partnerships, be it online travel agencies such as Expedia or other publishing houses that we haven’t had the opportunity yet to work with.”
• Pushing the Group Business
The ATB is also identifying travel opportunities for persons desirous of travelling in groups.
Mr Tserdakidis noted: “We are pushing the group business, looking at incentive travel, and multigenerational family travel.”
He explained: “We are looking at niche programmes such as destination weddings and romance activities… a great playground for us (ATB) to be a part of. We are also seeing that multigenerational family travel is one of the globally developing trends coming out of COVID”, and so the ATB is marketing Anguilla as the destination of choice to these travel demographics.
• Inspire International Travel
Mr Tserdakidis envisions Anguilla as a destination of choice for persons desirous of twin-destination travel which he believes will benefit stakeholders and the Anguilla community as well.
He stated: “Another strategic pillar [of the ATB] is to inspire international travel as a whole. This goes beyond our brand, and is a purpose-filled activity that we are doing given the fierce competition that we have world-wide. We want to be on top of everyone’s minds, communicating the position of safety, security, and that Anguilla is open for business.”
• Open the Destination to New Audiences
Mr Tserdakidis would like to market Anguilla as a destination opened up to new audiences, especially in the US where the ATB is putting out a sales and outreach calendar to support this pillar.
He noted: “When we talk about new audiences, we are talking about new demographics as well – a younger demographic and different interests. We already have opportunities here that we are marketing, but also with that [some travellers] are looking for soft adventure, entertainment and culture.
“We see people who are looking to lose the crowd, to set themselves off from what the mainstream is doing for the time being. This is especially true coming out of COVID as more countries open up and citizens are allowed to travel.”
Although Ms. Chantelle Richardson, Coordinator for International Markets, has been focused on trade and media activities through the ATB’s sales and outreach calendar of events in the US, the UK, and Italy, the marketing team realises the need to re-engage stakeholders as many marketing and destination organisations have been inactive for the last two years.
“It is our first opportunity to start retraining again the different travel trades, the different sellers of destinations, and the media. We need to be out there to promote the destination [Anguilla] basically from scratch.
“The competition is fierce, and there are a lot of countries investing a lot of money into their destinations and partnerships, to become “top of mind” – where we have been and other destinations have been. So, we need to be out there as well. With the very strong programme and strategy that we have right now, we are going to be able to achieve this,” Mr Tserdakidis said.
The marketing team at the ATB has been active in five markets worldwide: Canada and North America – being the highest volume markets – the UK, Italy, and the South America region.
