Caribbean News
The Turks and Caicos Islands Recorded Record Publicity for the Destination Across USA in 2022!
#TurksandCaicos, February 2, 2023 – The Turks and Caicos Islands Tourist Board is excited to announce that 2022 marked record publicity for the Turks and Caicos Islands across the United States of America – the destination’s leading market generator.
Working with its American public relations firm, J. Wade Public Relations, the Turks and Caicos Islands Tourist Board developed and executed a multi-faceted public relations plan to expand upon the Turks and Caicos Islands’ cachet as a world-class luxury vacation destination and ultimately further strengthen brand awareness of and drive an increased number of tourists to Providenciales and the sister islands.
Partnering with multiple tourism stakeholders across the islands, the Turks and Caicos Islands Tourist Board and J. Wade Public Relations utilized creative pitch angles, trend stories, and award opportunities to successfully capture the public’s pent-up demand for travel and highlight the destination’s key pillars including luxury travel, authentic experiences, culinary, and eco-travel.
These efforts resulted in consistent and significant coverage across national American media and key feeder markets with the Turks and Caicos Islands securing feature stories in Travel + Leisure, Condé Nast Traveler, CNN Travel, The New York Times, and Forbes, amongst many other major publications.
In total, the public relations plan for 2022 resulted in 144 placements, 2.8 billion total gross impressions, a total media value of $306.1 million, and a total return on investment of 5,101 to 1. These results nearly doubled those of 2021 where the Turks and Caicos Islands recorded 1.5 billion impressions and a total media value of $159 million.
“We are extremely impressed with the results that we were able to achieve from our public relations efforts in 2022 and we strive to surpass them in 2023. This year, we will be putting an even greater emphasis on promoting the sister islands, as well as bolstering our public relations efforts beyond the USA in order to strengthen brand awareness of the Turks and Caicos Islands on a global level” said Acting Director of Tourism, Mary Lightbourne. “A massive thank you goes to all of the tourism stakeholders who have worked with us in ensuring that all of the press trips have been a huge success”, added Lightbourne.
The successful execution of the Turks and Caicos Islands Tourist Board’s 2022 public relations plan was a primary force in the Turks and Caicos Islands becoming the World’s Top Trending Travel Destination for Fall 2022, as indicated by Tripadvisor data, which showcased the Turks and Caicos Islands having the fastest growing demand based on year over year growth.
“The Turks and Caicos Islands is a world-class luxury destination that truly has something for every traveler. And through our public relations and marketing strategies and tactics, we seek to ensure that the Turks and Caicos Islands is top of mind for every traveler when thinking about or booking a vacation”, said Minister of Tourism, Hon. Josephine Connolly. “We are excited for our plans to promote destination Turks and Caicos Islands in 2023, as we seek to be even more intentional with increasing our brand awareness globally”, added Hon. Connolly.
Dana Malcolm
Staff Writer
#TurksandCaicos, March 17, 2023 – Revenue from the Turks and Caicos’ Financial Services Sector will more than double in the next few years, if E Jay Saunders, Deputy Premier and Finance Minister gets his way. It ‘s one of the reasons the country is investing so much capital into getting off of the EU blacklist and becoming a secure trustworthy financial destination.
“The FSC’s revenues for 2020/21 was $10.5M— the figures for 2021/22, would be about similar,” he said. He further explained that $10.5 million from the FSC represented about 2.6 percent of the country’s 408.5-million-dollar
revenue. Though it increased to $14 million in the 2021/22 financial year, finance is still a small fry compared to tourism or even stamp duties but that will change, says Saunders.
“My revenue goal for the Government by the year 2029 [or] the election after the next election – is $500M. By that time, I want the financial sector (FSC) revenues to represent at least 5% ($25M). So that’s my goal for the financial sector by 2029.”
This goal, should it be met, would increase the Government’s revenue by 100 million dollars, a significant increase in spending power for local upgrades and improvements for Turks and Caicos residents and visitors.
Saunders says it’s time for the TCI to diversify its sources of revenue to make sure that what happened in the COVID-19 pandemic, which saw residents out of a job for months, will not happen again. Tourism now makes up around 80 percent of the country’s GDP. The Minister of Finance wants to push that down to 60 or even 50 percent.
Dana Malcolm
Staff Writer
#Haiti, March 17, 2023 – When a CARICOM delegation visited Haiti earlier this month, conspicuously absent was the Turks and Caicos Islands despite being one of the nations most directly affected by the multi-dimensional crisis there. There is no comment, as yet from the Premier, to say why this was the case.
Still, from the expedition, CARICOM heads of Government have informed that there will be lobbying in Africa for assistance in Haiti. They say they have decided that the best course of action for the Caribbean country is to bolster the Haitian National Police and act as intermediaries with Africa and the world. The decision follows a one day visit on February 27th, and a March 5th meeting chaired by the Bahamas.
CARICOM says during the trip delegates ‘met with a broad range of Haitian stakeholders to hear their views on the
way forward to a Haitian-led solution’. With that in mind it has made a decision on how to proceed.
“The Heads of Government agreed to support the Haitian National Police in their efforts to address the security situation. The focus of the Community will be the provision of training for the HNP and the provision of humanitarian assistance to HNP and the wider Haitian society, taking into account the challenging humanitarian and security situation”
It’s not clear yet where and how this training will take place. Also distinctly absent from the report, no more mention of boots on the ground from other countries despite CARICOM Member States indicating they were ready and willing should it come to that.
In addition, recognizing ‘the common historical experiences and the strong African-Caribbean relationship’ CARICOM says,
“Heads of Government also agreed to seek support from African countries for Haiti. They also agreed to work with the Governments of Canada and the United States as well as the UNDP”
Magnetic Media has reached out to the Premier’s Office to get a full debrief of the February 27th visit (led by Jamaica; including The Bahamas and Trinidad and Tobago) to learn of Turks and Caicos’ posture following the critical sessions.
Dana Malcolm
Staff Writer
#TurksandCaicos, March 17, 2023 – Musicians from the New World Symphony will be in the Turks and Caicos in concert next month and residents are invited to attend in support of the future of Ashley’s Learning Center. 
A fairly young orchestral academy based in Miami, the New World Symphony was launched in the 1980s by 1987, Michael Tilson Thomas and Ted Arison,Carnival Cruises founder. From the 1500 applicants who vie for a spot each year, the symphony accepts around 35 music graduates annually for training fellowships.
A select few of those graduates will be in country on April 8th headlining at the Ashley’s Learning Center concert ‘We’re all in this together’. The concert which also feature local artistes will be held at Brayton Hall on Venetian Road from 6 pm to 8:30 pm
Tickets are available ON ISLEHELP $75 PER GENERAL SEAT $125 PER PREMIUM SEAT $195 PER GALLERY SEAT – with /FREFRESHMENTS.
For TICKET RESERVATIONs you can call: 649-341-2304 or email EVENTS@ASHLEYSLEARNINGCENTER.ORG
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