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MARTINIQUE, A RISING STAR IN GLOBAL TOURISM

MARTINIQUE, A RISING STAR IN GLOBAL TOURISM

After earning the distinction as one of the best emerging destinations in the world,
plus major media coverage in national and international press, the Island of Flowers is in the spotlight and it’s just the beginning, as explained to us by the director of the Martinique Tourism Committee, François Baltus-Languedoc.

François Baltus-Languedoc Directeur du Comité Martiniquais du Tourisme – Crédit photo: photothèque CMT

ONAIR – Martinique was selected as the top emerging destination in 2021 by the travel review site TripAdvisor. At the same time, there were numerous news reports and a lot of press coverage about the destination. How do you explain this enthusiasm?
François Baltus-Languedoc –
The wonderful aspects of the island, of course; as well as the promotional campaigns we have run. As a result, 40,000 tourists visited the island between December and January 2021. Our promotional efforts met with an incredible success and led to increased interest by the media, especially French journalists. The coverage includes: 50 Minutes Inside on M6, La Revue des Arts on France 24, Échappées Belles on France 5, Sept à Huit on TF1… Our role at the Tourism Committee is to get the momentum going and raise interest in the destination for the public-atlarge as well as professionals.

OA – Since you mentioned professionals, the other big thing this year was the organization of a virtual tourism tradeshow. What was the idea behind that?
FBL –
With the pandemic, we quickly increased our digital presence and invested in such things as live events on Instagram and Facebook, primarily in Paris and Canada. We also worked with an agency that manages influencers to associate them with the promotion of our destination. COVID obliged us to concentrate on digital activities, and it was from there that the idea of the virtual tradeshow was born.

Ville de Saint Pierre, Saint-Pierre City, Martinique, France

OA – What where your goals?
FBL –
With COVID, the tourism sector in Martinique was beginning to withdraw into its shell… It seemed indispensable to organize meetings with professionals from elsewhere, as there wasn’t a large in-person trade show in 2020. We decided to compensate for this loss by organizing the first virtual event of its kind in the Caribbean: the Martinique Travel Show, with a beautiful design using online meeting software. Our professionals were able to meet tourism representatives from around the world: Canada, United States, France, Germany, Belgium, Italy, Switzerland, Spain, Great Britain, and other countries that participated.

OA – That must have been a real technological challenge to unite so many people from the Americas and Europe across so many different time zones. A success?
FBL –
Yes, the technical challenge was considered a success. The show attracted 1,254 attendees and 50 exhibitors. There were more than 6,100 t-chats (digital conversations) between local tourism professionals and international tour operators. More than 3,000 business cards were exchanged. The socio-professionals were able to meet with agencies they don’t usually meet with, even at in-person shows. The return on investment was very interesting and the success is most notably reflected in the signature of contracts. But there was also an after-salon: every month we organized virtual seminars for our tourism professionals with international experts, on such subjects as “The Tourist of Tomorrow,” or Gastronomy. There were at least 10 webinars available to them.

Crédit photo Photothèque CMT

OA – You often point out the importance of a 360° strategy. In terms of the publicat- large, a new campaign was launched on French national radio…
FBL –
In fact, this campaign was on the most important radio stations in France. We promoted the airlines, which announced their prices at the end of the spots. The idea was to make a direct, qualitative impact. The listeners hear an inspiring message and told how to respond; then when they go on the TripAdvisor site, our ads reinforce the message. It was natural that we ran a campaign on this sitet hat named Martinique as the best emerging destination in the world: banner ads, short films… more than 100,000 euros were spent. At the same time, we invested 200,000 euros on digital, essentially in Catch-Up TV: very inspiring films only a few seconds long played before online videos. Finally, we are creating podcasts called “Tell Me About Martinique” that will be aired shortly on Francophone radio stations (France, Belgium, Canada).

OA – In addition to such promotional activities, what is the role of the Martinique Tourism Committee, especially during a period like we are now experiencing?
FBL –
Our role is to play a part in the structuration of the tourism program, but that’s not all. We have also been very instrumental in terms of support. Last year, for example, when financial aid was offered by the Collectivity of Martinique, we trained our colleagues in the reception of the applications. The Committee also served as the gateway for the subventions provided. We moved out of our comfort zone of promotion and structuration in order to help our constituents. The shock of COVID also had psychological consequences for many professionals. It was important for us to support them.

Crédit photo: photothèque CMT

OA – Let’s talk about the future… How can you promote the reopening?
FBL
-We have various campaigns, “Go On Vacation In Martinique” and “Go To Martinique For Music” (editor: see related article in this issue). Plus, something new this year: via a dedicated application (Keetiz), tourists who spend money with our commercial partners will get 25% of their spending back; this project is financed by the Tourism Committee. In the same vein, the show “Tous à bord” on ATV will support “Go On Vacation In Martinique” by inviting viewers from Martinique and Guadeloupe to visit various town: what activities, where to stay, what to see, etc.

OA – Is the promotion of these places part of the structuration work for the future?
FBL
-Absolutely! We mapped all of Martinique with Google Maps. More than 500,000 locations were captured primarily by the work of a consultant with whom we collaborated. Tourists can discover Martinique as close to reality as possible. In speaking of our wonderful locations, we are working with Trace Télévision on the creation of a show about fitness that will be sot in some of the
iconic places on the island, such as Diamant Beach. The show will also host renowned guests.
This will allow Martinique to increase its notoriety in a fun way… and we’re just getting started. There will be some great surprises in the fall: a televised concert shown on a national channel in October, the Transat Jacques Vabre arrives in November, the Raid des Alizées the same month… And that is reall just the beginning of talking about Martinique!

Interview by Agnès Monlouis-Félicité

MORE INFORMATION
https://us.martinique.org/


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