CASTRIES, Saint Lucia – The island of Saint Lucia is overjoyed with the exposure it received with “The Bachelor: On the Wings of Love,” hit romance reality series which aired for two hours on Monday, February 15 on the ABC Television Network.
“The Bachelor” took Monday’s No.1 slot for non-Olympic programming in prime time from 8:00 to10:00 p.m. EST with an average 11.5 million viewers, holding strong against NBC’s Olympic coverage.
“We’re happy with the level of response that we have received thus far from friends of Saint Lucia and viewers who tuned into the show,” said Director of Tourism Louis Lewis, who said the hosting of “The Bachelor” has allowed viewers to see a broader image of the destination. “The phones are ringing, our website activity is strong and people are talking about the beautiful images of Saint Lucia. It was clearly the highest rated entertainment program of the night, and we are gearing up for round two when the series’ finale airs on Monday, March 1,” said Lewis.
The director reported that www.saintlucianow.com registered a 111 percent increase in visits to the site on Tuesday, the day after the airing of the show. Without any specific ‘call to action’ to drive website traffic, total sessions increased from 8,688 to 18,371 from Monday to Tuesday. A 229 percent increase in total pages viewed (from 14,005 to 46,075), and a 391 percent increase in Twitter “Tweets” which mentioned the destination (from 146 to 717) were also noticed.
Ross Stevenson, General Manager of Cap Maison Villa Resort & Spa whose property was featured in the episode, said his hotel’s daily website hits are typically between 500 to 600. “Last night (Monday) between 11:00 p.m. and midnight (AST), we received 6,500,” he exclaimed, adding, “What a great advert for the island – Saint Lucia looked fantastic last night.”
Jake Pavelka, the Bachelor, is out to prove that nice guys don’t always finish last in love. The handsome commercial pilot from Dallas – and America’s most hopeful romantic – began his own bid for true love, choosing from among 25 beautiful bachelorettes.
In Monday’s episode, Jake pursued romantic adventures across the island with the final three women – Gia, Tenley and Vienna. From the rain forest to a historic sugar plantation to a pirate ship, the dates were filled with excitement and passion, as Jake continued to explore what his future would be like with each of these potential mates.
The Bachelor falls in love with all three women – all for different reasons – and made his toughest decision yet, sending 26 year-old Gia, a swimsuit model from New York, home in tears; and offers the final two roses to Tenley, 25, a college admissions representative from Newberg, Oregon; and Vienna, 23, a marketing representative from Sanford, Florida.
