If We Build It

Working with what we've got to boost tourism and our local economy

by Kelly O'Brien

There are a lot of beaches in the Caribbean, most of them lovely and all of them preferable to the northern hemisphere, right at the moment. So when travelers are choosing which beach to flee to, how do we get them to choose ours?

Given the state of the global economy, not to mention our local one, we thought that some discussion might be welcome on the subject of how to not only improve the average tourist experience on St. John, but to persuade more folks to visit in the first place.

Rising to the Challenge

Not that we need telling, but VI Senator-At-Large Craig Barshinger points out that St. John, as a destination, "is already fabulous and very popular." But just because we have a good thing going, doesn't mean it couldn't be better.

For one thing, St. John, despite its fabulousness, is less accessible to incoming tourists than either St. Thomas or St. Croix, and that's a concern we need to address. Right now, the trip from the St. Thomas airport to Cruz Bay is, as Barshinger puts it, arduous. "What we need to do is make the experience of traveling to St. John more pleasant," he says. (His efforts towards that goal have been to push for legislation to subsidize the St. Thomas-St. John ferry so it's just $2 each way - yes, please!) But the trip here is just part of the picture - what about when our visitors arrive?

"We need to look at our infrastructure," says Bonny Corbeil, long-time community activist and just-recently-appointed St. John liaison to the VI senate president. "When we meet and greet visitors, we have to spend all this time apologizing," she says, for some of the inconveniences - no parking, lots of construction, etc. And while most visitors here are happy to be on-island, parking or no, these practicalities definitely impact our attitude as residents, and therefore our guests' experience.

"It's my opinion that when people in the community are happy, it's amazing how that energy gets played forward to any guests we have on the island," Corbeil says.

Improving our infrastructure isn't the only way to influence the disposition of the island, though. Kate Norfleet, who's in her third year as the St. John representative to the St. Thomas/St. John Chamber of Commerce, says the best chance of turning that attitude around is through education. "Educating the community about the value of tourism is a huge thing - and we've made huge strides," she says. The Chamber of Commerce, along with other community organizations, has been working to start programs like Future Business Leaders of America in local schools. Such programs teach students to think about the realities of our local economy, and how they can take their skills and talents into that economy and be successful. Norfleet says the Department of Tourism has also had some success with their local advertising campaigns, aimed at fostering a positive outlook on tourism.

Come One, Come All

Logistics and outlook may be two areas with room for improvement, but they're not our only avenues to higher tourism revenues. Ten years ago, the Bahamanian Ministry of Tourism started a cultural festival called Junkanoo in June. Although the traditional Junkanoo celebration (similar to the Virgin Islands' carnivals) happens in the winter, the Ministry hoped to boost tourism during their slow season by organizing a second major cultural celebration. Geneva Cooper is a Senior Director with the Ministry and one of the original organizers of the Junkanoo in June celebration. "Initially, the event had an audience of a few thousand festival-goers," says Cooper. "However, today the festival has been relocated just a few feet away from the cruise ship port [...] and has conservatively grown to more than 50,000 by culmination." Now, those are some numbers worth considering.

Finding a good time for a second Carnival-type celebration might be trickier, here on St. John. As Commissioner of Tourism Beverly Nicholson Doty points out, "We do have to bear in mind that we are a territory - we have three Carnivals already, and we need to be very cognizant of our unity as a destination." But what about a different sort of cultural event like, say, a film festival?

Andrea E. Leland, local filmmaker and one of the co-founders of the St. John Film Society, says that in the original planning sessions for the society, they had discussed organizing it as a festival rather than an ongoing series, but opted for the latter, since they're strictly volunteer-powered. That doesn't mean a film festival is out of the question, though.

"To make it attractive to tourists, it definitely needs support," says Leland, who has decades of experience organizing community film events. "You'd need to appoint a film festival director and pay that person, or it's not going to happen - and who's going to pay that salary?"

To answer that question - whether it's for a film festival or any other large, tourist-attracting event - organizers would have to get creative. For example, there are grants available from the Council of the Arts and the National Endowment for the Arts, if you know how to apply for them. (Through their partnership with the St. John Community Foundation, the Film Society has actually received grant money from both arts organizations, says Leland.)

There's also the possibility of government support, through a partnership with the Department of Tourism. "We really believe that events should be private-sector originated and public-sector sponsored when we can measure a return on investment," says Doty. In fact, tourism has a specific formula - for every dollar spent in support of an event, they need to be able to turn around and show that the event put three dollars back into the local economy.

While organizing a large cultural event would certainly be a daunting task, St. John administrator Leona Smith says she thinks we've got what it takes. "I think we have the people here that are capable of doing this," she says. "People here are so close-knit; everybody gets together for the common cause."

Target Acquired

Just because we're coming up with new reasons for people to visit St. John, though, doesn't mean we should stop promoting the old ones. Our beaches, national park, history, culture, sparkling blue waters - the list goes on. The challenge comes in getting that list in front of the right people. It's important, say Doty, "to match the right client to the right destination." So who are the right clients for St. John?

There are some obvious demographics - divers, hikers, nature-enthusiasts. But there are a couple of other specialized markets we could afford to go after a little more aggressively. Melody Smith, marketing director for Maho Bay Camps, says that catering to family groups has turned May-July  ­- traditionally slow here, but also the first months of summer vacation -into a strong period for the eco-resort.

On a less obvious note, Smith also says that St. John could really benefit from going after the Danish tourism market, and Doty agrees. "[The Virgin Islands] have 7000 visitors every year from Denmark," says Doty, and based on their interests, it sounds like St. John could definitely cut itself a bigger slice of that pie, with a little planning. "For the most part, [Danish tourists] are not looking for a mainstream experience," says Doty. "They're not heavy shoppers, and they're very interested in the historical stuff." Let's see, not mainstream, light on shopping, and interested in history? Sounds like a match made in heaven.

Doty encourages St. John businesses to look into promoting relationships with the Danish tourism industry - "it really does represent a growth opportunity." She does caution, though, that relationships are culturally very important in Denmark, and they'll take effort and time to establish. "A lot of the properties that are doing well with the Danish market, have been at it for 10, 12, 15 years," she says. So if you're interested in tapping that market, there's no time like the present.

While all of these strategies have the potential for positive change, none of them are quick fixes, and that's something we have to come to terms with. Fortunately, Norfleet's got it figured out: "A drop of water started the Grand Canyon; that's my approach to it." And that metaphor holds up, too, for it was only with the addition of a great many other drops of water that the Grand Canyon achieved its current glory. "Whatever plan we have," says Norfleet "has to include the entire community."

 March 2010