TourismToday

The Islands of The Bahamas have maximized its exposure at Expo Shanghai through an online travel competition that has already brought a winner and her guest to Bahamian shores.

While the Bahamas participates in Expo Shanghai, the six-month exhibition that builds awareness and international goodwill, the Bahamas Ministry of Tourism has launched an online competition that has fed travel information to thousands of Chinese citizens. Internet users visit www.fengniao.com and www.bahamas.cn to learn about the Bahamas and enter to win a dream vacation of 7 days.

“Traffic is driven to the contest web pages from several sources, namely a large billboard advertisement on location at Expo, just outside the Bahamas booth in the Caribbean Pavillion; from media carrying press releases on the contest, and also from the social networks,” said Shena Newton, the Ministry of Tourism’s General Manager of Foreign Languages. “The Bahamas has received enormous exposure through the online contest. To date, 200,000 plus internet users have visited both websites to view the information on the online contest.

Tang Xiaomin emerged as the winner of the first part of the competition. She took her dream vacation to the Bahamas this month with her husband, Zhang Quianli. They met with the Ministry of Tourism’s Permanent Secretary, Hyacinth Pratt, before experiencing the vacation offerings of Nassau, Harbour Island, Exuma and their host resort, Atlantis.

Ms. Pratt urged the couple to enjoy the pace of The Islands of The Bahamas, which they would find much more relaxed than that of Shanghai. Ms. Tang, who is a writer, plans to capture the experience of her dream vacation in an article.

Participants in the online contest are required to do in-depth research on the Bahamas and to design the most unforgettable itinerary possible. The second and final part of the competition will end on November 5, when another winner will be chosen to be hosted at a Baha Mar property.