Barbados’ winter tourism season received a much needed boost on Monday, with the arrival of Eurowings Discover’s first flight here, which brought 105 passengers out of Frankfurt, Germany, to vacation and/or work on the island.
Among the passengers was Senior Business Development Officer for Europe, Debbie Moe, who spoke highly of the journey home, and prospects for the two markets amid the COVID-19 environment.
“Eurowings will be flying to Barbados three days a week. Today was of course the first flight and it will go through until April 23, next year, so we’re super happy to have this connection for Europe into Barbados. Of course, the flight is leaving the Frankfurt Airport at just about 1:30 p.m., which allows us to connect many European cities via Frankfurt into Barbados.
“So, yes, it certainly will allow Germans to come to Barbados, but it will allow persons from major airport hubs in Europe to come to the island as well. And, we saw this on the flight today; we have persons from the Netherlands and many more coming into Barbados on the first flight,” she said.
Adding that Eurowings Discover comprises three classes – Business, Premium Economy and Economy, she praised the level of comfort and catering provided during the nine-and-a-half-hour flight, and said “it was quite a lovely experience”.
Ms. Moe explained the marketing strategy in the face of the COVID-19 pandemic, saying: “Well, we continue to market quite strong because we of course know we still need to have a presence in the market. The truth is, the German market has changed a bit and persons who were booking previously, maybe six months in advance, they are now booking quite shorter. So, six weeks, maybe even four weeks, or two weeks, before they fly. So, this is quite a good advantage for us because persons are still looking to travel; they are looking to get away from the grey skies.”
She also noted that aboard the flight Barbados was constantly promoted as a new destination in an advertisement, and that other advertising efforts had been done by her team.
She said this included one-on-one consumer advertising with customers in a large sports adventure store in Berlin and in Munich a week before, and it was expected to continue in Cologne, the following weekend as well.
“So, we continue to aggressively attack the market. It is our strongest market on Continental Europe and it is something we will continue to push forward,” the Senior Business Development Officer stated.
Ms. Moe also revealed that a press group, comprising four Germans, two Italians and two Dutchmen had made the journey to Barbados to explore and tell the story of the island.