Montserrat Sustainable Tourism Strategy
Assignment:
Turning Ash to Cash
Devastated by an active volcano, Montserrat lost one-third of its land and the catastrophe forced two-thirds of its inhabitants to flee the country. The tourism sector needed a new lease on life. As such, Leve Global was approached by the Office of the Premier to develop a Sustainable Tourism Strategy for Montserrat.
We were tasked with the challenge of coming up with strategies that could build economic, social and environmental resilience in the tourism industry previously devastated by its volcano.
Solution:
A team of experts including responsible travel, sustainable development, climate change and environmental impact, market research, analysts, marketing and digital marketing specialists, social media marketing, and human resources development experts undertook the following activities:
- Extensive stakeholder consultations both on the ground and globally
- Field visits to many sites and attractions
- Detailed product Assessments
- Secondary Research and Analysis
- Audit of Digital Presence and strategies
- Analysis of global and regional trends and analyses
- Competitor analyses
- Environmental surveys
- Crafted marketing strategies
- Delivered environment and Tourism awareness programme
Results:
Identifying the Unique Selling Proposition
Identified the unique selling proposition – the volcano. The island of Montserrat can now lay claim to the only ‘buried city’ in the Caribbean. This was important as many residents on-island preferred to forget the volcano and its traumas, rather than use the experience to build sustainable development.
Developed The Volcano Value Chain
Created a comprehensive Volcano Value Chain and economic feasibility assessment to “Turn Ash to Cash” for the people of Montserrat.
Targeted Digital Marketing
Crafted a detailed marketing strategy and communications plan. Recommended that greater emphasis be placed on digital marketing – new website, increased social media, search engine marketing and content marketing. In addition, we identified key niche markets and segments.
Stakeholder Inclusiveness
Delivered a one-day Stakeholder Consultation Workshop in which nearly 800 persons (including Live Streaming via Facebook to members of the Montserratian Diaspora living abroad) took part.
The workshop evaluation revealed that 96% of participants found the workshop to have met their expectations, another 92% felt that the workshop achieved its objectives and 100% gave the workshop facilitators a positive rating.
Over 100 Strategic Initiatives
The Sustainable Tourism Strategy delivered 103 strategic initiatives valued at US $12.6 Million.
Assisted Client in Obtaining €0.5 Million in Funding
The Montserrat Sustainable Tourism Development Strategy was successfully used as a tool to acquire €500,000 in funding from the European Union to implement the recommendations outlined by Leve Global.