As chairman of the tourist committee I represented Bequia at a few trade shows in Europe, and Berlin’s ITB was my first. I went at an historic time for Germany, the Berlin Wall was coming down and people from the East were able to travel to the West, many of them for the very first time.
After a long and wearying journey, the delegation from St. Vincent and the Grenadines checked into the rather drab hotel the department of Tourism had booked for us. It wasn’t much of a place, there was barely enough space to swing a cat in my room, but it didn’t matter as very little time would be spent at the hotel. Our country couldn’t afford anything better, and I was grateful that the sheets were clean and the bathroom spotless.
Janet Woods, the Director of the Department of Tourism, had indicated that my help would be appreciated in the setting up of St. Vincent and the Grenadine’s booth. The trade show would begin the following morning, so after a hurried breakfast of cold-cuts and rolls we took a cab to the venue. What a place! The building was MASSIVE, and as our booth was not in a central location it took a long time to shuttle all the tourism pamphlets to the Caribbean section. There were several hundred booths, and they all seemed to be advertising the same sun, sea and palm trees we ourselves wanted to sell. This was going to be a very humbling experience, there was an awful lot of competition out there!
I was dismayed when I saw the booth for St. Vincent and the Grenadines. It was very dull-looking in comparison to the other Caribbean stalls, the walls and cabinet were bare and I knew we hadn’t carried anything decorative in the boxes we had lugged into the building! Mrs. Woods assured me that the Hoteliers would have brochures to spread across the counter but that didn’t make me feel much better. We were situated right beside St. Lucia; they had wonderful arts and crafts decorating their walls, and Trinidad and Tobago had gone overboard with their display. As for Martinique, their booth was totally amazing. St. Vincent looked like the poor cousin, which I suppose is what we were. I vowed to myself that if and when I ever went to another trade show I would pack some colorful Vincentian arts and crafts in my suitcase!
The first day of the trade show was for travel agents only, and I watched as they passed our colorless booth. They would glance at the ST. VINCENT and the Grenadines sign hanging over the counter, and continue on to St. Lucia. At times they would register the tiny letters after ST. VINCENT and stop to ask questions about the Grenadines. They seemed to know about Mustique, the Tobago Cays and had even heard of Bequia, but they obviously weren’t familiar with the name of the country. I mentally made a note to get that sign changed to read ST. VINCENT AND THE GRENADINES! The Travel Agents interested in St. Vincent were encouraged to drop a business card in the wooden bowl on the counter. The cards would be copied and sent to all the hoteliers in the country so that they could respond to any inquiries resulting from the trade show.
The second day of the show was open free of charge to all East Berliners. Wow, what a sight! The people who had lived for so long on the other side of the Berlin wall were eager to see what the rest of the world looked like, and they only had one day in which to do so. As a result they were in a hurry, grabbing anything that was free from each booth they passed. They often threw away most of what they had gathered when their plastic handle bags got too heavy, lessening their burden before heading into yet another section of the vast building. I saw garbage bins filled with Caribbean pamphlets everywhere, and soon the hoteliers were hiding their precious brochures under the counter, leaving our booth totally bare. Even the wooden bowl disappeared, the business cards looked rather free and were in danger of being snatched. The East Berliners were easy to spot, they moved in clusters wearing extremely drab brown coats and dazed expressions. I decided that before I left Germany I just HAD to visit East Berlin, it promised to be an interesting experience!
The trade show in Berlin was quite an eye-opener. I listened to a representative from St. Lucia selling St. Lucia and the Grenadines to prospective visitors. I also heard Grenada selling Grenada and the Tobago Cays. The Grenadines and its treasures belonged to St. Vincent, but without a flamboyant display to attract visitors the neighboring islands were stealing our show! I had to make SURE that something was done about St. Vincent’s poor-looking booth or the tourists would end up in St. Lucia and Grenada. It was clear to me that the department of tourism needed help in trying to promote St. Vincent, the ITB made that very obvious.