With its slogan “Taking Tourism Forward”, the Ministry of Tourism as part of its Sweet Summer Campaign, launched its Giant Postcard initiative to promote unique locations across the island.
Minister of Tourism and International Transport, Senator Lisa Cummins, shared the rationale behind the Giant Postcard initiative during a press conference held at the Grantley Adams International Airport, yesterday evening.
Speaking about the five locations, Golden Square Freedom Park; Holetown; Bathsheba; the Grantley Adams International Airport and the Richard Haynes Boardwalk which were used in the launch, Minister Cummins stated: “We’re taking tourism forward together and in this instance, today, we are taking tourism forward, not just with our visitors, those of you who are following us from online, but we’re taking tourism forward together with our residents and our Barbadians for whom this is home.
“And we want to be able to welcome you to our home to share our home with you and to tell you about all of the places that are so special to us, and why we want to make sure that you have those special experiences in the same way that we have. And so the places that have been chosen by the team reflect not just who we are as a people now but where we have evolved from over time.”
She highlighted that at each of the five locations launched, the entertainment matched and reflected the history of the area to our sports, heritage, history and culture.
For instance, at Golden Square the connection is to heritage and the labour/union movement led by Clement Payne; at Holetown, the connection is to history, the first town; at Bathsheba, the connection is to sports – the Soup Bowl for surfing and also to film where the Bold and the Beautiful was shot; at the Grantley Adams International Airport, it’s the first and last memory of Barbados for visitors, and at the Richard Haynes Boardwalk, it’s the ability to sit, jog or take a long stroll along a stretch of our south coast beaches.
Minister Cummins pointed out that the launch was only phase one of the initiative and that the second tranche involved having giant postcards located in Barbados’ overseas source markets starting with Europe.
Barbados Tourism Marketing Inc., Chief Executive Officer, Dr. Jens Thraenhart spoke about the Sweet Summer Campaign and stated: “When we think about Barbados, we talk about unique experiences, and even though it’s easy for us to talk about these unique experiences, they really come alive when people tell their story. And this is what the summer campaign is all about, to really go out there and encourage people from residents to visitors to share these stories, so that’s why we launched [our] summer campaigns, with themes from memories to moments to secrets.
“And the postcard component that we’re launching today really encourages that even more to have people share these experiences on these five spots all over the island. So on one hand, obviously, we want to have people that have these moments and these memories and share them, but on the other hand, we also want people to get inspired all over the world to come to Barbados, and to have the same experiences, put themselves into these postcards.”
The Tourism Minister encouraged residents and visitors to the island, to visit the Giant Postcards at the various locations around the island, take a photo, sign the postcard, and then share their photo on social media with the hashtag #bajanmemories and to tell the world what is your favourite memory about that location.