BARBADOS TOURISM LANDS AIRLINE VETERAN TO MARKETING POST
NEW YORK (May 26, 2011) – The Barbados Tourism Authority (BTA) has scored big with the recruitment of airline industry veteran Campbell Rudder to the post of Vice President of Marketing for the United States.
Rudder, a former airline executive with both Air Jamaica and BWIA International Airways, left the airline industry while Air Jamaica and Caribbean Airlines (formerly BWIA West Indies) were in the final stages of a complicated merger.
CAPTION: Accomplished airline veteran Campbell Rudder in a new role. Photo credit: Margot Jordan
The New York office, noted for promoting the upper crust of the Barbadian tourism product, was accused of not paying sufficient attention to the quality mid-scale offerings across the island.
Rudder’s common sense approach to management and connections across all segments of the tourism landscape is likely to ensure a more even-handed use of the important New York operations.
Charged with generating increased visibility for the island, Rudder hit the ground running and has been visible promoting the island’s involvement in the Penn Relays in Philadelphia, launching the Crop Over festival and collaborating with the Caribbean Tourism Organization to promote this year’s Caribbean Week in New York to be held next month in the city.
His cooperative regional experience will help promote not just the Bajan experience, but also the Caribbean charm so admired across the world.
“I am pleased to be a member of the BTA team and look forward to enhancing the overall vision and performance of the tourism sector through tactical and focused strategies,” said Rudder.
These tactics, he hopes, will lead to increased passenger arrivals and economic growth across the island.
Since the start of the year, Barbados has registered encouraging increases in visitor arrivals as the global economy emerges from a painful recession.
Rudder, who is very well known across the Barbadian and Caribbean diaspora, brings more than 30 years of travel experience and expertise within North America and the Caribbean to the BTA’s New York office.
His appointment is being welcomed, particularly in the overseas Barbadian communities who are eager to support their homeland and await with interest policies he employs in the months ahead to engage the important Caribbean-American travel market.
At a press conference launching the CaribbeanTales Film Showcase, slated for Saturday June 11 as part of Caribbean Week in New York activities, Rudder declared, “My role is to get Barbados at the top of the mind of the consumer … and we are looking forward to exciting things.”
He averred his priority is sharing Bajan stories of the island’s rich and diverse heritage such as the island’s Jewish history and Barbados’ role in the settlement and development of the southern United States.
He reported a Courtyard Marriott had recently opened in Barbados, and plans were afoot to open a Holiday Inn and Four Seasons resort on the island. New attractions and special events will also form part of the island’s value proposition, he contended.
Barbados enjoys regular non-stop services from JFK Airport on both American Airlines and JetBlue Airways. JetBlue has introduced additional night flights for the bumper Crop Over season during the summer.
ENDS