Showing posts with label cayman islands. Show all posts
Showing posts with label cayman islands. Show all posts
Tuesday, 26 November 2013
Saturday, 30 January 2010
Travel Destination Press Conference - only freelancers learned 'bout "Trashing the Dress" trend
Yawn. For beat reporters and photographers covering a travel destination media conference there is precious little to do aside from nibble on the great food and proudly refuse the free booze that flows like lava out of a spewing volcano. Why? There isn't usually any new news given out. In fact almost everything you learn at the press conference could have been emailed over to the newsroom (and they probably still wouldn't have used it).
Air Canada will soon be flying non-stop Charlottetown to Ottawa. Canadian money offered at par in the Buckeye State. Hilton Head Island Goes Green. Those are real headlines from recent press conferences. And the photo ops? travel destination press conference invented the Grip and Grin.
It is a different story for freelancers. It is a chance to meet up with visiting destination officials (usually the tourism minister), tour operators and fellow travel writers. Freelance writers are under no moral obligation to avoid the libations,turn down free trips or take home bags of swag. And if you are covering a destination you no real well, and have the chance to ask probing questions you do find out some neat things. Take for example a presser I attended in January, put on by the Cayman Island Tourist Board.
Cayman has long advertised in Diver Magazine. I go there a lot. It is one of the best destinations in the Caribbean for diving and there are non-stop flights from Toronto (which means you don't have to pass through the US).
I am a Cayman junkee. I listen to Cayman Lime Radio. I read the Cayman Compass. My Google News scans 24.7 for Cayman News. Even so, this presser held out nothing for me, it was a two-hour session all about out-of-country weddings. Sure there have been underwater weddings, but, that is a story that has been told many times already.No, I didn't for see learning about anything that I could transfer into an article for Diver (or even a posting on my website for that matter).
I was wrong! I did learn a few neat factoids about travel destination weddings from Cayman's guest talking head Rebecca Grinnals of Engaging Concepts based in Celebration, Florida. Grinnals talked in person to over 30 travel experts at the Yorkville movie industry friendly Sassafraz Restaurant. At the same time she was conversing with a whack of bloggers, tweeters and God knows who else was lurking on line in real time.
Her message? Despite a recession in 2009, destination weddings (especially in the Cayman Islands) are hotter than ever.
“The world’s largest financial crisis last year really fuelled the trend of destination weddings,” she said “While the industry was bracing for the worst, the opposite occurred. Brides began to reprioritize and rethink everything about their wedding. More brides opted for simplicity, choosing to wed away from home in a more casual setting.”
Grinnal referenced a 2009 study conducted by Destination Weddings & Honeymoons magazine. It says that the market for destination weddings is on the rise. In 2009, the market ballooned to $16 billion up from $3 billion in 2001. A couple’s destination wedding budget has also grown from US $19,800 in 2008 to US $20,600 in 2009 with the average number of attendees rising to 48 guests.
Some of the factoids I learned at the conference?
Marrying Passions – “Over 9,000 Chinese couples married on the opening day of the Beijing Olympics and I anticipate many will choose to do the same during the Vancouver Olympics,” says Grinnals. “Couples who have a love of sports or the great outdoors are choosing to share their passion,” she says. From diving out of an airplane to getting married underwater in dive gear, couples are pushing the boundaries of tradition.
Two Dress Brides – Brides who travel to marry are tending to buy two wedding dresses. Faced with so many stylish options at great prices, Grinnals says brides are opting for a ceremony dress and a fun, party dress for later in the evening.
Dramatic Getaways – When the big day comes to a close and the couple is ready to make their exit, they’re doing it in style. From skiing down a mountain, riding off in a hot air balloon or speeding away on a yacht, the fun is all in the big finale.
DIY DJ – “Whether at home or abroad, couples are ditching the DJ in favour of creating their own play lists on an iPod,” says Grinnals. “Plus they’re downloading music from local artists to create a unique party mix.”
Hitched in High-Tech – Brides are fully immersed in technology, using their mobile device to coordinate planning and vote on bridal party choices. “Social media is particularly popular for the destination wedding couple who are using sites like Twitter and Facebook to keep everyone up-to-date, especially those unable to attend,” she says. “Some brides are even designating a ‘tweet of honour’ who’s responsible for giving a blow-by-blow of the wedding, while others are using webcast services like http://www.ourcaymanwedding.com/ so those at home can still feel a part of the festivities.”
Eco Everything – Because it’s easier than ever to go green at your destination wedding, Grinnals says brides are embracing the trend. “From venues to vendors, they are making green choices in an effort to give back to the environment,” she says.
Map It Out – Couples are creating custom maps of the destination which are given to guests upon arrival. “It’s a great way to make your guests feel welcome as soon as they arrive and immediately orients them by providing attractions, restaurants and other information they’ll need while there,”. She suggests http://www.weddingmapper.com/
Trashing the Dress – “Popular in Caribbean locales, the couple holds a photo shoot the next day and jumps into the ocean in their wedding outfits,” says Grinnals. “It’s a chance for the couple to really let their hair down after all the stress and pressure from the months leading up to the big day. It’s one of my favourite trends and I don’t see it losing steam anytime soon.”
Photos by Stephen Weir
Cutline: Below: Rebecca Grinnals at the Cayman Island podium
Above: Tweeters and Bloggers followed Grinnals hour long Toronto, Canada presentation.
Thursday, 10 January 2008
Entry Update -- Cayman Islands, Death By Scuba - the 20 minutes of fame travel destinations don't want. Updated 2008
Wearing my Diver Magazine hat I attended a number of travel events this past month as warm weather destinations came to Toronto to roll out their winter campaigns to attract travellers. Typically a country will send its marketing team, its PR firm and its minister of tourism. There are steel drums, lotsa great food, drinks, good times and mountains of press kits.
It can be a difficult task to interview a tourism minister in his/her own country - 15 years ago - almost a lifetime it seems - in St Kitts I sat on a chair in their downtown government house waiting to meet the vice premier. After six hours his assistant acknowledged that in fact the minister was off-island. So, I find these events useful because you actually talk to the decision makers. Most tourism ministers walk to pump hands and pump sunshine, however,if you try real hard, they will answer the tough questions.
Last week I went to the Cayman Island tourism launch and talked to the Minister of Tourism about diver fatality stats from the most popular dive destination in the Caribbean. His answers were refreshingly frank. I will report on my brief interview in this Blog later today .... don't touch that dial.
Hey. Hey. I write these words on January 10th, 2008. I never did fill in the blanks did I? My excuse? I got busy after the post and didn't got around it doing it (until today). And, to be honest, I actually sent a job application into the Cayman Government. Didn't think it would help the cause if I waxed on about diver deaths and a cabinet on these pages while I was trying to sell my services as a pr type rather than a nosy journalist (I do both). As it was I never did hear back from the Government. Sigh - The Cayman Islands Government has learned Toronto rude.
As far as the interview went with the minister, he and his associates were very blunt. It was refreashing. They see the sport of diving as being in decline - which impacts negatively on their visitor numbers. Oh there are still people joining the sport each year but at most (and they quoted PADI figures) there are only 2 million active divers on the planet. On any given year two million divers will never go to one destination to dive - like Cayman - however, in a calender year over a million people will visit the Cayman Islands on cruise ships.
So, according to the minister, the three-island British colony will continue to court the cruise ship trade with vigor and passion (hence their arrival in YYZ). Diving will not be ignored, but, the future of the island's tourism industry no longer rests on a pair of flippers.
A large percentage of the cruise ship visitors want to take part in water activities when they arrive in Georgetown. Most want to lie on the Seven Mile Beach. Others want to snorkel and visit Sting Ray City. A small number want to scuba dive.
It is the people in the second and third categories who are dying. A very small percentage of visitors arrive on the island standing up and leave in a box.
Why, I asked the minister are people dying in the water? His take on the figures are that with such large numbers of visitors, stats wise people are going to die. Many of the deceased were overweight, old, out-of-shape and already suffering from severe medical problems -- the snorkeling or diving speeded up a process that was probably well underway before that person arrived on the island.
The island feels its dive and snorkel standards are stricter then any other Caribbean island. But, the problem facing operators is that cruise ship passengers have a tight time-line on the island, and there is little opportunity to evaluate people's diving skills, experience levels and health, before putting them in the water.
There have been deaths on Little Cayman island - where no cruise ship visitor ever treads. The minister noted that these deaths involved experience divers and the government was at a loss to figure out was caused those accidents. (Not all of the bodies have yet been recovered from the base of Bloody Bay Wall. One incident is being classed as dbs - death by scuba - the body of diver was never found but a sucide note was recovered.
The day after I met with the minister that was another scuba/snorkel fatality on the island. I plan to visit the island have a more detailed interview with the Minister.
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