Influencer marketing is the new age technique: Ernest Hilaire

Saint Lucia: Dr. Ernest Hilaire, the Deputy Prime Minister and the Minister of Tourism for Saint Lucia, talked about the marketing strategies used by the officials in his recent media appearance. The minister specifically talked about the use of social media to promote the tourism of the island nation. He took a stance in favour of the use of influencers and celebrities to promote the offerings and how it benefits to achieve the numbers.

Recently, it was seen that the Saint Lucia Tourism Authority actively promoted the tourism of the nation with the use of social media. The authority also took many social media influencaevy used ers on board, along with celebrities, to reach the public through their popularity on the internet. This way of promotion has been heavily used for the last few times, especially during Lucian Carnival 2024.

However, this way of marketing technique was not liked by many, who criticised the strategy used by the Saint Lucia Tourism Authority. The critics pointed out that other marketing models could be used to promote tourism which may bring better results. After people raised questions over the influencers being used for marketing, Minister Ernest Hilaire came ahead with the answer.

The tourism minister defended the steps taken by the Saint Lucia Tourism Authority working under his guidance and talked about the use of influencers for promotions. Ernest Hilaire stated in his words that the use of social media influencers is a new kind of form that is being used widely in the marketing field around the globe. It helps in reaching to the people all around through their following on the social platforms.

Minister Hilaire said in his statement, “It is really a new age of marketing. The use of influencers, the use of persons that the public would follow, would also follow their posts, and follow their views. It is the use of that. With the common use of Artificial Intelligence, marketing destinations to prospective visitors has become much easier.”

He added in his statement, “It has proven to be highly effective, and now, with the advent of Artificial Intelligence, it is becoming even more targeted and more streamlined, where you can actually get exactly the profiles of the persons that do come to Saint Lucia.”

Ernest Hilaire mentioned in his statement that the use of this marketing strategy helped a lot in bringing numbers. The promotion of the tourism sector through the use of influencers really brought tourists to the island. The results are satisfying, as per the officials, and the Saint Lucia Tourism Authority will continue to use this method, which will also target the Lucian Carnival 2025, which will last from 01 July to 23 July next year.

As it is not possible to know the exact number of visitors who came through this method in the nation, Minister Ernest Hilaire said, “I can’t tell you that eight hundred people came because of a social media influencer. However, you can correlate the use of some strategies to those persons and the spaces in which they operate. What I can tell you is that our numbers are phenomenal because of the use of this technique.”