Travel

Expedia Supports Puerto Rico and the Caribbean’s Efforts to Increase Demand

Expedia Hosts the First Ever Caribbean Tech and Travel Summit During CHTA  

San Juan, Puerto Rico – The Expedia group, one of the world’s leading travel companies is utilizing its participation in Caribbean Travel Marketplace to reiterate its commitment to support destinations throughout the region. During the event, the travel tech company is hosting its first ever Tech and Travel Summit in collaboration with the Caribbean Hotel & Tourism Association (CHTA) and will bring together some of the top travel and tech innovators to discuss trends and competitiveness in the market.

Collaboration and Commitment

The Expedia group is proud to support the continued growth of the Caribbean region and has implemented several initiatives to help drive tourism to Puerto Rico. Expedia Media Solutions, the advertising arm of Expedia group, Travelocity (one of the Expedia group brands) and the Puerto Rico Tourism Company announced a collaboration and launched a marketing campaign to help drive travel demand to Puerto Rico.

 The campaign, which was donated on behalf of Travelocity and Expedia Media Solutions, includes onsite advertising placements, a dedicated page highlighting the hotels and resorts open for business in Puerto Rico, and useful content about the country on the Travelocity “Inspire” blog.

In addition, two of Travelocity’s “Gnational Gnomad” travel experts and influencers visited Puerto Rico in January to learn firsthand how the island’s most popular beaches and tourist attractions have quickly recovered from recent storms, and shared their knowledge with inspiring social media content to their followers.

“Travel and tourism will always be an important factor in reinvigorating the economy and supporting destination recovery after disaster strikes,” said Wendy Olson Killion, global senior director of Expedia Media Solutions. “We are very happy to be working with the Puerto Rico Tourism Company on this initiative and will continue to work with brands and destinations around the world to support tourism and recovery in times of need.”

Melia Braco Village, Jamaica - Expedia Supports Puerto Rico and the Caribbean’s Efforts to Increase Demand
Melia Braco Village, Jamaica

According to the Puerto Rico Tourism Company (PRTC), the island is open for business with more than 100 hotels and more than 4,000 restaurants in full operation. Jose Izquierdo, executive director of the PRTC stated that, “tourism is a vital contributor to the island’s economy, so reaching these milestones not only will help build a stronger, better Puerto Rico but showcase the resilience of our people and destination.”

First Ever Travel & Tech Summit

A testament to the company’s goal of supporting the local hotel community, the Expedia group is hosting its first Caribbean Tech and Travel Summit in the Caribbean and will bring together leading global companies including Facebook and Sabre Hospitality Solutions to discuss trends and the future of the guest experience.

Expedia will share the latest news on their innovative hotelier tools in addition to discussing recommendations on how hoteliers can take advantage of Expedia’s technology, tools and market intelligence to mitigate the impact of natural disasters on their business.

“We are very proud to host our first Caribbean Travel and Tech Summit and are excited to host this event in Puerto Rico. This is just a small part of a larger scale effort on the island and the Caribbean region and one way in which we are helping the area continue to drive its recovery from the devastating hurricanes,” said Rafael de Castillo, Senior Director, Resorts, the Expedia group.

“The summit not only combines our tech and travel expertise along with heavy hitters in these industries like Sabre and Facebook, but also allows our market management team to celebrate partners and discuss trends and new tools available on Expedia’s multiple platforms that can provide increased visibility and incremental demand for all.”

Expedia Media Solutions will be presenting insights from their latest study on the American Traveler, which highlights travel habits and behaviors across four generations.

Strategic Relationship

Following Hurricanes Irma and Maria and despite many Caribbean destinations being unscathed by the storms, the general misinformation was enough to reduce demand for many travel partners throughout the region.

To combat this, the Expedia group’s market management team collaborated with local hotel partners to implement effective strategies that generated awareness and increased demand to destinations and kept the Caribbean top of mind for travelers.

Through these initiatives, the following destinations saw effective strategies implemented:

  • Cayman Islands: The Cayman Islands Department of Tourism worked with Expedia Media Solutions to create a multi-faceted campaign to promote the destination including the use of TravelAds. The local market management team worked closely with hotels to ensure the sites had the best inventory and rates available. Meanwhile the Department of Tourism ran several messages, promoting their “We are open for business” approach.
  • Guadeloupe: Expedia Media Solutions worked closely with the Guadeloupe Islands Tourist Board to launch a campaign to entice U.S. travelers to book. Not only was the response from local hoteliers’ positive there were multiple airline deals running that were promoting non-stop flights.
  • Barbados: The local Expedia team worked closely with 20 hotel partners to host a UK takeover of the Expedia Homepage. The takeover celebrated the island’s 51 years of independence.

South Florida Caribbean News

The SFLCN.com Team provides news and information for the Caribbean-American community in South Florida and beyond.

Related Articles

Back to top button