BDOT Hosts Eighteen North American Bloggers
The Bermuda Department of Tourism [BDOT] hosted a group of 18 bloggers and social media enthusiasts from the United States and Canada this past weekend to help promote the island as a destination that offers ‘so much more.’
The BDOT said they represent a range of interests including culinary, family, fashion, girlfriend getaways and general travel and are documenting their trip through blog posts, as well as Tweets and Instagram photos using the #inBermuda hashtag.
“We were thrilled to have such a range of bloggers on-island,” said William Griffith, Director of Tourism. “In today’s increasingly digital media landscape, bloggers play a very influential role in sharing their personal experiences to a loyal and targeted following. This was a great way to expand beyond the traditional brick and mortar media to drive publicity and broaden exposure in the digital realm.”
The group experienced accommodations at the Fairmont Southampton and Fairmont Hamilton Princess, which hosted the group. They visited places around the island including Hamilton, the Royal Naval Dockyard, the Town of St. George and the South Shore beaches.
Latest photos using the #inBermuda Instagram hashtag
Activities included a morning cruise of Hamilton Harbour onboard ‘Kioko’, a tasting of Gosling’s Black Seal Rum during a tour of the plant, visiting attractions such as the Bermuda Underwater Exploration Institute, and shopping in Hamilton. They also learned about Bermudian cuisine from Chef Colin Lloyd at Muse and the island’s agriculture from Tom Wadson at Wadson’s Farm.
In addition, they had the opportunity to take advantage of Bermuda’s natural surroundings while paddleboarding, kayaking and snorkeling, and had the chance to sample meals at the Fairmont properties and other restaurants.
“We were happy to see immediate response from the bloggers who were posting images and writing enthusiastically about their experience even while they were still here on the island,” said Mr Griffith. “It’s great to see the reaction from those who experience Bermuda for the first time and realize that we truly do offer so much more.”
Read More About
Category: All, News, technology
Awesome idea!!
Amazing. Great job BDOT!
great idea!! would have been nice to have seen bloggers from other cultural backgrounds.
ugh. again its taking new problems and using old answers. The idea of blogging and social media marketing is quantity of quality. No longer do we live in a world where expert opinions matter, we live in a world where the sheer number of opinions do. Its very very hard to force social media effectiveness (just look at all the attempts to ‘go viral’), as its based on authentic mouth to mouth marketing. IMO huge waste of money. Could have easily used the money more effectively
You should share some of your ideas then…
Blogging and social media has a major influence in today’s society. People do things based on who says what about the subject. And while it’s not “expert” in that the bloggers are righting based on their experience, experience is what sells travel. It always has. These bloggers have lots of followers plus their families, friends, and coworkers in their social networks. That’s a lot of people who will hear about their trip here. Word of mouth, now just with a technological advance.
Bloggers are still considered expert opinions. We are assuming that each of these 18 writers will inspire droves of would be tourists no? That is a traditional marketing strategy but one that’s out of touch with social media. Bloggers work the same way as any traditional opinion column writer.
I do believe you hit it on the head when you said experience sells travel though. I would rather spend the money either subsidizing first time traveler hotel rooms,
or just investing the money into our tourism product, which at this point is very lacking. we are a high priced destination, and if we expect tourism to do well we need to create value. Value within a high priced model mean EXCEPTIONAL quality. Until we resolve the imbalance of price versus product we are going to be stuck.
Depends on the size of your target market. Bermuda should be focusing on the quality of Tourist not the quantity and when you tap those markets then yes they are finite. If you were trying to mass market something then yes it is about quantity, but Bermuda does not have the resources to meet those demands. What it does have is the ability to provide a great getaway for east coast, young working professionals that have disposable income. You cannot take the broad brush, blanket marketing approach. It is too costly and we should not be trying to compete with all inclusive destinations as they will always be able to beat us on pricing.
In my opinion, most young professionals from the city are now looking more at the boutique style of hotel and tourism, not the mass market. We should be focusing on that, and I am sure the above initiative will help work towards that.
I think you I may have been unclear with my statement of quantity of quality. I agree we are a low volume/high price destination and I think that is correct. What I meant was that in terms of social media and web-based marketing, it is the number of positive review rather than the quality of each review that is important. In other words, 200 or so review from various people that have visited to island on their own accord is more believable/convincing than 18 reviews from people paid to come to island.
I totally agree with ‘brigadoon.’
Fine and dandy then, supporters, what is the Return on Investment (ROI). In professional marketing the ROI on any given campaign must be measurable. How does the DoT measure the effectiveness of this blogger promotion? — to learn if it was a successful idea or just a waste of money? The DoT do not monitor results! True tourism numbers are manipulated to look better that they are. The DoT do not measure ‘bed-nights’ like they should. So the DoT have no idea of the reach or the actual end result of their blogger freebee! Therefore, IMHO, it’s probably a waste of money… as usual. They really haven’t got a clue.
These photos are amazing! Definitely depict the side of Bermuda that would draw ppl to the island, I love it
Agree with Positive Vibes, great idea to use social media to spread the message about how “Bermuda is So Much More”. Perhaps the next set of bloggers will be more culturally diverse.
I agree. Way too many women. American women! Where are the English men?
where is the racial balance?????
As long as you people keep thinking everything in colour you will always be a third world country