The Public Entity Saba on Wednesday, December 14, signed a contract with US public relations firm Diamond PR for Saba’s tourism PR representation in North America.

Having worked with a skilled freelancer for some time during and after the pandemic, it was decided that Saba needs consistency in its destination presence moving forward as it will lead to the under positioning of the destination. The Caribbean islands continue to strongly position themselves, and Saba’s destination awareness and promotion in key niche areas are highly needed. Therefore, the services of a skilled and knowledgeable PR firm were looked into to further increase awareness of the island in the United States and Canada by educating the travel trade, consumer, and lifestyle markets regarding Saba’s tourism product in general.

Saba Director of Tourism Malinda Hassell explained that Diamond PR was contacted for the firm’s knowledge, skills, tourism industry connections and all other attributes necessary for a PR representation. Diamond PR has extensive knowledge of the Caribbean and is the PR firm for St. Maarten, Curaçao and Bonaire. The firm also has hotel clients in the Bahamas, Aruba, Puerto Rico, St. Lucia, as well as clients in Europe, the US, Mexico and Central America.

Partnership

The Saba Tourist Bureau is very pleased to have hired such a highly commended public relations firm that is specialized and focused only on tourism PR. This partnership will be of benefit of the island but most importantly the tourism partners and stakeholders. Also being the PR Firm for St. Maarten, the synergy, collaboration, and partnership in certain areas can be of benefit to both destinations.

Diamond PR is an all-travel and tourism PR firm with headquarters in Miami and Los Angeles, and also offices in Dallas and Boston explained CEO Jody Diamond, who signed the contract together with Commissioner of Tourism Bruce Zagers at the Tourist Office in Windwardside. It concerns a one-year contract with the possibility of extending.

Tourism Master Plan

The signing of the contract with Diamond PR fits well with the ambitions stated in the Saba Tourism Master Plan 2023-2028 which was recently presented, stated Commissioner Zagers. “Creating more awareness about our amazing product in the North American market is a priority. Working with a PR firm like Diamond PR which has an extensive reach in this market should create opportunities to increase our presence,” Zagers stated.

Diamond PR will mainly focus on increasing the awareness of Saba as a destination among consumers in the US and Canada via the media with a view towards increasing tourism in different ways, including day trippers and overnight visitors. North America is Saba’s main source market.

Very different

Asked about her first impression of Saba, Diamond said, “I’m absolutely enamored with Saba. The destination feels very different from other islands. It offers a unique and refreshing experience and is the perfect escape for active visitors who want to soak in the beauty of nature and adventure, especially through hiking and diving. Add to that another layer of exploration for aviation enthusiasts, island hoppers, and culture seekers and the island offers some really fun and different ways to spend a Caribbean holiday.  There are some great stories here that we are looking forward to sharing and I think will be very well received.”

Diamond said that Saba’s close proximity to St. Maarten offers advantages. St. Maarten is an ideal destination to take day trips from and to experience the surrounding islands and Saba is very suitable in this regard. She said that this is why she also brought four journalists with her when she came to Saba on December 14.

Press visit

The press visit was organized in partnership with the St. Maarten Tourism Bureau. The journalists were from a wedding magazine/website called DestinationIDo.com, the Toronto Sun, BuckHaven Magazine which caters to a high-income area in Atlanta, and MatadorNetwork.com which is a very large digital travel outlet. The journalists came to the island together with representatives of Diamond PR and were amazed by what Saba had to offer.

For the next step, the Saba Tourist Bureau will be inviting all tourism partners to an online session in January 2023. During this session, Diamond PR and the team will be introduced and a presentation will follow with the proposed 2023 roadmap, objectives, strategies, and tactics. This will be in alignment with the Tourism Master Plan suggestions, which focus on niche marketing centering on the lifestyle characteristics of the Saba visitor.

GIS Saba