2020 tourism Heartbeat campaign kicks off
Published:Thursday | January 23, 2020 | 12:00 AMJanet Silvera/Senior Gleaner Writer
NASSAU, Bahamas:
Jamaica has launched a new tagline dubbed ‘Jamaica – Heartbeat of the World’ and expects to spend at least US$10 million advertising the island to the world in 2020.
Coy about discussing a budget during a press conference at the 38th Caribbean Travel Marketplace at the Grand Hyatt Baha Mar in Nassau on Wednesday, Jamaica’s Director of Tourism Donovan White said that the new tagline would accompany the country’s new marketing campaign.
‘Heartbeat of the World’ is a multipronged cultural mantra encompassing music, cuisine, sports, adventure, nature, and wellness, White told journalists gathered in The Bahamas capital.
“This reinforces our position as a global leader among travel destinations and establishes Jamaica as the single destination every traveller must experience,” said White, adding that the island had outsize influence beyond its geographic smallness.
“We are a cultural giant, and we continue to have an indelible impact on the world’s food, music, sport, and literature while offering larger-than-life bucket-list experiences with extraordinary, talented people.”
White noted a commitment to ensuring that there was adequate advertising in critical markets. For the tourism director, critical markets include the United States, where Jamaica gets some 71 per cent of its visitor arrivals, and the key cities of New York, Philadelphia, Chicago, and Atlanta. Canada and the United Kingdom complete that cohort.
According to White, the Jamaica Tourist Board’s advertising initiative will span mainstream and alternative media, as has traditionally been done, but will have a heavy online focus.
He said that the board’s marketing team was also seeking to build a community of responders “that will allow us to be very, very in touch and at the pulse of what happens in our marketplaces digitally”.
The focus, he added, was to integrate the Jamaican brand in the digital space.
“This allows us to be way more pervasive and allows us to communicate more rapidly and to be more responsive to the digital community in a way that we have never been before,” he said.