USVI Tourism Director Dann Lewis denies that he has a magic formula. Whatever he does have seems to work.

I was boarding American Airlines Flight 625 at Kennedy bound for St. Thomas and St. Croix. I reached the door to the bridge at exactly the same time as another man did. “After you” I said.

“No, no, my friend, after you.” he responded in a heavy West Indian accent, “after you, and welcome to the US Virgin Islands”.

I was pleasantly surprised at the man’s warm, sincere welcome, particularly since we were still 1,500 miles from his home. My inbred New York cynicism led me to question him later. “Are you with the Virgin Islands Tourist Office?”

“No, no mon. I’m a taxi driver. I’ve been up visitin’ my boy in Chicago.”

The flight was full - as were most flights to the Virgin Islands last winter according to American Airlines and Eastern Airlines. I had also heard that hotel occupancy rates were in the 90’s. This was not the Virgin Islands of four or five years ago when you could virtually guarantee space without checking.

I asked Dann Lewis, recently appointed director of tourism, if he could explain this resurgence in tourism.

Lewis is credited to a great extent with engineering the revival of the Bahamas tourist industry. Perhaps he had some secret formula that he carried with him when he took over as director of tourism for the USVI last July.

Of course, Lewis denied the existence of a rejuvenation formula, just as he disclaimed credit for masterminding the revival of tourism in the USVI and the Bahamas. But his description of those remarkable turnarounds had three common themes: development of new markets, compilation of tourism data (market research) and inspired promotion.

“While the 1967 - 70 was a soft period in Bahamas tourism,” Lewis explained, “tourism to the Bahamas and the Caribbean in general had declined in 1973-74.” The economy was depressed worldwide, pleasure travel had ebbed, and many destinations that had traditionally depended on lucrative U. S. markets were beginning to explore other possibilities.

“The Canadian scene really exploded with the introduction of ITC’s,” Lewis said. “New market development in Canada and Europe was one reason for the revival of tourism in the Bahamas. Western European business was expanded tremendously, particularly in Germany, France and England.”

Do those markets offer any potential for the expansion of the U. S. Virgin Islands tourism product?

“We are looking at Canada, and we are making some preliminary forays into Western Europe, which, due to a lack of direct air sevice at the moment, are confined to a slow building of awareness among the travel trade.”

Not all new markets are foreign however. ”We are certainly interested in California. We have had some discussions with Delta in an effort to develop their traffic flow from the West Coast through New Orleans.” Additionally Lewis said that both Western and National have expressed a willingness to promote the USVI as an onward destination from Miami.

Much of the Bahamas new market development was based on the collection of hard data on tourism. In fact, Lewis believes that the Bahamas today “probably has the best statistics on inbound tourism.”

While the U. S. Virgin Islands have some unique tourism advantages ($200 duty free limit, US currency, language, lifestyle and immigration considerations), there is one distinct disadvantage in the area of data compilation: “Because we are a U. S. territory, we have no data on visitor statistics that would normally be collected at international arrival terminals,” Lewis explained.

So following the example of what Dann Lewis believes is the best informed tourism plant (Bahamas), the Virgin Islands  undertook an exit survey in January 1976. “We have already gotten a good deal of demographic data that has shaped some of our marketing this summer in the ‘Sun, Sand and Free’ program,” Lewis said. “But there is no history, and we have got to start building up a data bank. It is difficult, expensive and time-consuming.”

While Lewis believes that the basic quality of the USVI’s product has remained intact over the years, he also feels that effective promotion has played and important role in the territory’s turn-around - “promotion coupled with a general strengthening of the economy, an increase in travel overall and the continued impovement of services by American Airlines.”

The problems of the Virgin Islands are a thing of the past. With expanded and enlightened promotion, the USVI should have a respectable summer and another record-setting high season. The Division of Tourism will continue to explore new markets; they now have the marketing data they need to pinpoint their always aggressive promotion campaign, and if our amicable cab driver friend is as smart as he is hospitable, he’ll visit his son in Chicago next year during the off season.

USVI Tourism Director Dann Lewis denies that he has a magic formula. Whatever he does have seems to work.

from: ASTA Travel News, by Albert Walters, May 1977