BARBADOS TOURISM IN REVIEW: 2014 PEFORMANCE 2015 RETURNING TO GROWTH

Transcription

1 BARBADOS TOURISM IN REVIEW: 2014 PEFORMANCE 2015 RETURNING TO GROWTH Remarks William Griffith Chief Executive Officer Barbados Tourism Marketing Inc. February 24, 2015

2 Good morning ladies and gentlemen I am honoured to be able to deliver this report today on the tourism performance in 2014, and to be able to outline the tangible growth prospects for I am equally pleased to be the bearer of some positive news on behalf of a very hard-working and dedicated team of individuals at the Barbados Tourism Marketing Inc. Credit must be given to those who in anyway assisted in paving the way for our island to be able to wrestle back some of our market share. Having been on the job for just shy of four months, I am now fully immersed in my role in building the new organization and transforming its business model in line with the changing tourism landscape. I am very appreciative for all the support that I have received so far from colleagues and industry partners. Success will be defined by the extent of the collaborative effort of everyone in this all-important industry. 2

3 CRUISE As this is my first industry report I would like to break with convention and start with our cruise performance. Barbados welcomed 395 cruise ships in 2014 compared to 374 in 2013 or 6 per cent more than the previous year. There were eight inaugural calls representing 38,083 passengers in 2014, among them the third largest passenger ship, Royal Caribbean s Quantum of the Seas, with a capacity of 5,000. While cruise passenger arrivals dipped by 2 per cent or 12,365 to 557,898 arrivals, we are happy to report there were approximately 8,462 cruise stay visitors. This represents an increase of 1,164 arrivals over The other good news is that the majority of them chose to stay 7-10 days, followed by 2-3 days and 4-6 days. We also maintained our home porting levels, which continue to benefit several other sectors including agriculture and retail. The separation of the cruise and cargo functions at the Port presents a great opportunity to improve the 3

4 servicescape of the arrival area for our cruise visitors and provides new and authentic experiences for them from the moment they set foot on our shores. We look forward to working with our partners at the Barbados Port Inc. and the Barbados Tourism Product Authority (BTPA), as well as the membership of the Barbados Hotel and Tourism Association, to enhance the cruise value proposition. We also continue to maintain a healthy presence at the global cruise trade events, including the upcoming Seatrade Miami cruise conference. Partnering with our sister countries across the region to ensure the Caribbean remains the world s most desirable cruise itinerary, remains a top priority. 4

5 LONG STAY ARRIVALS Now we move on to a review of our long stay arrivals in As the chairman indicated, our long stay arrivals are up 2.2 per cent over 2013 with 11, 118 additional visitors to the island. We consider this result very encouraging. December 2014 recorded the highest number of arrivals for any given month since April 2007, when we hosted the ICC Cricket World Cup. During that month last year there were 61,128 visitors, an increase of 19.8 percent or 10,101 more visitors year-on-year. The majority of visitors to Barbados in 2014, 34 per cent to be precise, stayed 7 10 days and fell between the ages of 46 and 55. This is consistent with the 2013 figures. Of the total number of visitors, 52 per cent were female versus 48 percent male. The majority stayed with friends and relatives, that is, 22 per cent of all visitors, compared to 19 per cent who chose luxury accommodation and 14 per cent who opted for the villa experience. 5

6 UK A granular look at our results reveals that this positive performance was led by the United Kingdom, which maintained its position as the top producing market for the island. UK arrivals accounted for 37 per cent of Barbados arrivals in 2014 or 186,858 visitors, an increase of 11 per cent or 18,125 more holidaymakers than in These increases can be attributed to the UK s improved economic conditions, which drove up consumer confidence. We also reaped success from several event initiatives that targeted this market, namely the Summertastic, Top Gear and the Soccerex programmes, among others. The success that our refurbished properties have had with the UK tour operators ought to inspire other property owners to make the requisite investments. In the end it s a win-win for all parties and is critical if we are to maintain our competitiveness. 6

7 USA The USA continued to be the second highest producer of business for Barbados, generating 23 per cent of our visitors for There was a decline of 2 per cent or 2,074 fewer visitors. However, this must be compared against a 4 per cent dip in capacity out of the USA or 10,054 fewer seats when compared to This would have been as a direct result of the loss of 55,702 seats on American s service out of JFK. So in essence 82 per cent of that lost airlift capacity has now been replaced by JetBlue, Delta and US Airways. The Delta nonstop service from Atlanta s Jackson International and New York s JFK, were among the highlights in our efforts in this market during the last financial year. Overall, we closed the year with 118,659 US arrivals, which represents a 2 per cent dip year on year. It is important to note that in December, we registered record arrivals out of the United States when compared against This was also the third highest number of December US arrivals on record in 14 years, eclipsed only by the year 2009 with 14,989 arrivals and 2005, 14,775 arrivals. 7

8 CARIBBEAN & LATIN AMERICA Although the CARICOM market registered a loss of 9.9 per cent, it remained the third largest source market for the island. Thirty-five per cent of the total visitors from this region or 27,915 travellers came from Trinidad & Tobago. Our research tells us that this decline is due to a number of factors, including diminished spending power among potential travellers and a 10 per cent reduction in seats via LIAT. High airfares placed regional travel in an uncompetitive position, in some instances, when compared to the cost of international travel. We are fortunate that several events continue to attract visitors from the region to our shores including the Crop Over Festival, Barbados Gospelfest, the Barbados Reggae Festival and Hennessey Artistry concert, as well as most motorsports events, which have proven to be very popular with our Caribbean neighbours. 8

9 Our task is to create the right packages and deals to support this trend so that all potential Caribbean visitors will have the incentive to visit Barbados. We will also engage creatively with our airline partners in an attempt to increase intra-regional travel. Brazil Arrivals from Brazil continue to trend very positively. There were some great package promotions in the market during that period, including the Barbados Island Inclusive and a Flat Fare Sale. As a result Brazil was up 18 per cent or 864 additional passengers year on year and this is the highest number of arrivals we have had since the introduction of the Gol flight. Several travel trade initiatives were undertaken such as familiarization trips to Barbados and agent training. We are already seeing the fruit of these efforts and plan to do even more to grow this very important market. 9

10 CANADA Initial projections showed Canadian arrivals in 2014 would decline by 8%. Through refocused marketing efforts, rebounding visitor demand and successful airline negotiations, the year ended with a 2.2 per cent decline. For the first time ever we had three weekly flights out of Montreal and Air Canada introduced, for the first time ever, a 270-seat B777 daily service out of Toronto. Moreover, the team was able to successfully establish coop campaigns with key partners such as Air Canada Vacations (ACV) and WestJet Vacations. They executed a Cineplex Promotion with 15-second adverts in English and French combined with print ads in the Cineplex Magazine. 10

11 EUROPE We now turn to Europe where Barbados registered another encouraging performance. We are pleased to announce that Germany, the Netherlands and Belgium are up 16%, 17% and 7% respectively. Italy was also up 13% over This was largely due to strong marketing to support the seat capacity increase of 3,960 seats, or 23 per cent. Condor s Frankfurt service continued to be the major direct service out of Europe. They increased their capacity by 14 per cent or 1, 350 seats. Condor s winter operations were also enhanced by twice weekly flights through to the month of April 2014, and then three weekly flights, which commenced in November Condor is supported by a tour operator portfolio strategy aimed at establishing rock solid relationships with all of the key players. We are also boosting awareness about destination Barbados in the European market through travel agent training using an E-Learning tool we created in collaboration with the CTO. 11

12 Media partnerships with wide-advertising coverage across multiple channels and social media marketing have also helped us to reach over 6.5 million in Germany alone. 12

13 BARBADOS TOURISM 2015: RETURNING TO GROWTH We are optimistic with the about the projections so far for Preliminary figures for the month of January 2015 show that Barbados realized 56,132 visitors in total, the highest on record in 15 years. Arrivals out of the USA in January 2015 grew by 14 per cent or 1, 295 additional visitors to reach a total of 10,810. This was the highest for arrivals in January out of the USA since 2011, when US arrivals reached 11, 968. During that period Delta s Atlanta service and American Airlines Dallas Fort Worth service were in operation. In the UK during January 2015, there was a 15 per cent increase in arrivals or 2, 790 more visitors. The total, 21,355 visitors, was the highest number on record of UK visitors realized during the month of January. In January 2015, arrivals out of Canada grew by 27 per cent to reach 10,578, an increase of 2,238. There was also a 23% growth in Germany and a 20% growth in Brazilian arrivals. Trinidad and Tobago continued to struggle with a 12% decline. 13

14 A large part of our enthusiasm stems also from our new marketing philosophy, which will be driven by a stronger digital marketing consciousness than ever before. While we are encouraged by these results we are very cognizant that one or two great months is not the panacea. The battle for growth and sustainability for visitor arrivals will not be won solely by winter performances. It will require greater effort and more targeted marketing activity in the summer and fall months. In addition to a proposed new destination website by the end of this fiscal year, I am pleased to announce the appointment of a new director of marketing effective March 2. We want to acknowledge today the presence of Mr. Robert Chase, a young man who has an extensive working background in e-marketing; possesses a Bachelor s degree in Management (with honours) and holds a master s degree (with distinction) in e-commerce all at my alma mater the University of the West Indies. I wish Robert well and have warned him that a few sleepless nights are not far away. We will be placing an ad in the coming week for a manager of digital marketing and social media. This new role will further augment that Marketing Department and represents a fundamental 14

15 change in our strategy to transform our business model from one focused on traditional media and advertising. The marketing department will be responsible for all of Barbados online real estate and managing our digital reputation. They will also coordinate the brand advertising and marketing strategy consistently across all markets. Brilliant Barbados We are also delighted to announce today the launch of a new tactical destination promotion, Brilliant Barbados, which has been created with excellent support from our BHTA partners. The Brilliant Barbados promotion, which will commence in early March, offers the first night free on a four-night stay for the US, Canada and the Caribbean markets, and the first two nights free on a seven-night stay for the UK market, Europe and Latin America. The booking window will be open from early March for five weeks, with travel to be completed between May 9 and December 19,

16 Participants will also receive a 25% attractions discount card to be used at participating entities; and a Re- Discover dining voucher will be given to each person on arrival, among other benefits. We are pleased that approximately 30 hotels have signed on to participate so far in this campaign, and the marketing promotions will be tailored for each source market. The objective of this tactical promotion is clearly to drive incremental business in that traditionally softer period of the year that we mentioned earlier. CRUISE Projections for 2015 paint a vivid picture of growth and new business for cruise tourism. Overall arrivals are projected to increase by over 5-6 per cent to produce close to 750,000 arrivals. Home porting activity will rebound with a projected increase of 17 cent over In addition, 12 new vessels calling at the Port of Bridgetown during 2015/ 16 season will contribute 177,551 passengers towards overall capacity. 16

17 LONG STAY ARRIVALS USA When we look at our global prospects for growth, it is clear that the US has the greatest potential for Barbados. It is the fastest growing region in global travel and its economic conditions are expected to continue on a positive upward trajectory. We anticipate seeing tangible improvements from the efforts of our US team, ably led by our new Director USA Market, Petra Roach, in Additional airlift planned into Barbados via the extension of the second JetBlue service from JFK, and a twice-weekly nonstop Delta service out of JFK and Atlanta, were launched in December. We are already setting programmes in place to make sure we fill those seats. Some of the initiatives they have planned for the US market include: providing irresistible incentives to 6,000 luxury travel agents trained in our Barbados Elite Club programme. 17

18 reviving our relationship with Virtuoso, which will provide us with access to 8,900 of the most powerful luxury travel advisors in the world an initiative that also stands to enhance our Canadian business prospects. We are also pursuing the culinary tourism niche by showcasing Barbados local chefs at major gateways to strengthen our position as the culinary capital of the Caribbean. Barbados recently embarked on a CBS radio promotion in the tri-state area with JetBlue s contribution and we plan to replicate this initiative in support of the Delta Atlanta service. Some of these initiatives will be extended across our other markets, where feasible, as a part of our global marketing strategy. UK In the UK, we will be defending our airlift astutely through strategic partnerships with key industry players, while developing creative travel concepts for would-be visitors around our extensive sports and cultural calendar. 18

19 Notwithstanding that, our team is exploring new events and alliances to keep our product offering fresh in this very mature source market. We will also be exploiting opportunities to offer greater value for money, e.g. via the Re-Discover card and building on our relationship with our partners at the Barbados Hotel and Tourism Association (BHTA) through programmes such as Connect BGI. We want to wish our newly appointed Director UK, Cheryl Carter, great success. Many of these initiatives will also be run in Europe. 19

20 CANADA Our strategy, led by our newly appointed Director of Canada, Peter Mayers, will continue to advocate for the inclusion of additional Barbadian hotels and ancillary services by our elite tour operator partners. Two days before Valentine s Day WestJet ran a successful viral campaign promoting Barbados romance product, which generated over 1.4 million views on YouTube. We will be working with Sandals through their relationship with Air Canada Vacations (ACV) to help to spread the word about Barbados as a preferred destination for romance. Indeed, we will be attempting to leverage this partnership across all markets to engage media and tour operators to create unique value propositions. Research has also confirmed that we have strong prospects in reaching multigenerational travelers in Canada and we will be reaching out to them using a summer villa promotion. Sports, affinity groups, culture and heritage, and MICE niche marketing will also be used to help drive up our Canadian arrivals. 20

21 EUROPE Team BTMI will be implementing a strong digital marketing campaign through partners such as Expedia, Trivago, TripAdvisor and Unister in order to push sales. These and other Internet travel publishers will be used to help us to reach millions of potential visitors to our shores. In France sales missions will be held on the outskirts of Paris in cities that fit our desired demographic profile high incomes and good access to our British Airways Condor services. We will invest significantly in increasing awareness about Barbados throughout Europe via road shows, fam trips with A-list media and bloggers, E-learning programmes for travel agents, and participating in strategic travel trade conferences. However, the primary focus across Europe will be on digital marketing and online sweepstakes through Facebook in particular, which has great potential for a return on our marketing dollars and bodes well for us as we seek to reduce the seasonality of our markets. 21

22 CARIBBEAN Despite the challenges we still have high hopes for the Caribbean market. Our team has already started assessing our market position and the ways we can enhance Barbados image as an aspirational and attainable destination. We are also considered a mecca for successful, well-designed and produced events and we will be working with our airline and tour operator partners in the region to offer packages around these events. The high cost of airfare continues to be a concern and we are exploring creative promotional options. There will be strategic partnerships with key influential individuals and associations with extensive databases of potential visitors. Our emphasis will be on attracting regional sports events, as well as the MICE market. 22

23 BRAZIL In Brazil, our travel trade activities are in the advanced planning stage with a travel agent incentive programme set to come on stream in the near future. Fam trips and agent training will be combined with chances to win prize trips to Barbados. We will continue to work with major tour operators and media professionals as well to ensure we continue to grow our arrivals out of this important region. Luxury, sports, MICE, romance and educational travel are all niches that our research has suggested we must pursue aggressively in the Brazilian market. We will also be exploring potential business outside of the traditional Rio de Janeiro and Sao Paolo hubs. These are exciting times for Barbados tourism. While many of these initiatives have proven successful for Barbados through the years, the difference going forward will be an increased use of research and measurement to assess our strategic positions. 23

24 At present the Immigration form provides trends and visitor analysis, but visitor segmentation analysis is the next step to understand the types of people that are traveling to Barbados so that we can focus time, energy and dollars in the most relevant areas. Segmentation analysis will help BTMI to quantify, locate and understand who are its current high potential and prospective visitors. BTMI will have an in-depth description that will provide more insight on how to reach consumers with the right message and product offering. This amplified research strategy, and our flexibility as an organization to respond to rapidly changing market conditions, speaks to a new era in marketing for Barbados tourism. Our goal is to complete the transition plan for the new BTMI entity by the end of year We are also rapidly building a rhythm in pursuing our new mandate; while overcoming inherited challenges and fulfilling inherited commitments. 24

25 We look forward to collaborating with all of our partners to maximize our limited budgets toward achieving greater things for our vital tourism sector. We would also like to point out that all sponsorship partnership requests will be assessed primarily on a set criteria for a return on investment (ROI) that targets visitor arrivals. The prospects for destination Barbados look very healthy and we are ready to regain our market share and accomplish new milestones in 2015 and beyond. Thank you. I now hand you back over to Neville who will chair the question and answer session. 25

26 BARBADOS TOURISM IN REVIEW: 2014 PEFORMANCE 2015 RETURNING TO GROWTH Remarks Alvin Jemmott Chairman Barbados Tourism Marketing Inc. February 24, 2015

27 Good morning ladies and gentlemen. It is with great pleasure that I welcome you to today s news conference, a performance review of the Barbados tourism sector in We want to extend a special welcome to the members of the media for joining us as we take this opportunity to highlight the major achievements of our 2014 performance and to reveal some of the strategic initiatives we have planned for promoting this wonderful destination, Barbados, in The year 2014 was a period of marked recovery for Barbados tourism sector. At the end of December visitor arrivals were up 2.2 per cent year-on-year, due in no small part to strong economic recovery and improved consumer confidence in traditional and emerging source markets. 2

28 The World Tourism Organization (WTO) announced recently that there were some 978 million international travellers in 2014, an increase of 4.7 per cent or 45 million tourists more than the previous year. All of our key source markets showed positive signs of growth and this augurs well for the future growth of the Barbados tourism sector from 2015 onwards. The Caribbean benefitted significantly from this increase with the Caribbean Tourism Organization (CTO) reporting an average growth of 4.9 per cent across 28 reporting territories. In 2014 Barbados tourism arrivals grew by 2.2 per cent. It is the first positive sign of growth in two years and all industry partners must be commended for playing their respective parts to get us to this point. This is admirable considering that our destination is one of the more mature holiday spots in the region, with a very high repeat visitor rate. It also comes against the background that there was a projection of a 4 per cent decline in arrivals for the year back in December

29 According to the Central Bank of Barbados visitor expenditure for the first three quarters of the 2014 stood at 11.7% of total real GDP. It is estimated that Barbados earns over $4 billion in foreign exchange earnings, with some 15,100 or 12% of all employed persons working in the hotels and restaurants across the island. In the cruise sector we were able to secure 557,898 passengers. Home porting activity was 5 per cent below the previous year due to a decrease in call s across various lines. However, we welcomed 395 cruise ships, an increase of 21 vessels when compared to Over the past six months, the Barbados Tourism Marketing Inc. (BTMI) has sought to build on the momentum of its predecessor, so that the transition into the new organization thus far can be characterized as a continuum. However, it is by no means business as usual, as we are very keen on establishing a new marketing philosophy that appropriately matches our current digital age. 4

30 Likewise, our efforts to formulate a winning global team to market brand Barbados continue unabated. In due course we believe we will have an appropriate mixture of solid experience and new media insight that can carry the organizational strategy toward developing and enhancing our tourism sector for generations to come. Even in the face of this transition, we are keeping our sights on the major targets set before us. Shortly you will hear of our plans for 2015, which are guided by our commitment: - To diversify our tourism source markets and reduce our vulnerability to shocks in any given region. - To reduce the seasonality by adjusting our marketing strategies across booking periods - To deepen strategic partnerships with key travel industry players to simplify the booking process for potential visitors - To pursue an integrated marketing approach to ensure the implementation of successful initiatives and lessons learned across all of our source markets. 5

31 In addition, our long-term goals are still rooted in a desire to break down the language barriers in pursuing new categories of visitors, and providing new tourism products that can attract the next generation of travellers. With regards to the latter, we are working closely with our sister entity, the Barbados Tourism Product Authority (BTPA). We are committed to balancing these objectives against our current targets to ensure the sustainability of this vital industry. We make bold to say that already we are seeing the fruit of the decision to shift our tourism marketing strategy into the hands of a company. This new structure allows us to be nimble, to be quick in responding to market shifts and to set a new paradigm based on fiscal prudence. We ask that you support team BTMI as they move forward into this new frontier for the good of Barbados tourism. I now hand you over to the CEO, William Griffith, who will share the detailed highlights of our 2014 performance and a long-lens view into our strategic plans for

32 I thank you. 7

33 MEDIA CONTACT: NEVILLE BOXILL SENIOR DIRECTOR, SUPPORT SERVICES BARBADOS TOURISM MARKETING INC. 1 ST FLOOR WARRENS OFFICE COMPLEX WARRENS ST. MICHAEL FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE BARBADOS TOURISM RETURNS TO GROWTH PATH ~Local tourism grew for first time in two years by 2.2 per cent ~ BRIDGETOWN, BARBADOS. February 24, 2015 Barbados tourism sector has begun to show signs of growth. In 2014 long stay visitor arrivals increased for the first time in two years by 2.2 percent to 519,638 visitors, compared to the previous year. Chairman of the Barbados Tourism Marketing Inc. (BTMI), Alvin Jemmott, explained that while there was still some way to go to restore all of the market share lost during the past few years, it was encouraging news for the destination. This is admirable considering that our destination is one of the more mature holiday spots in the region, with a very high repeat visitor rate. It also comes against the background that there was a projection of a four per cent decline in arrivals for the year back in December Tourism is still the best hope for Barbados economic recovery, as it generates some 12 per cent of the island s foreign exchange earnings, which are estimated at $4 billion. There was also a record-breaking number of arrivals in December 2014 when Barbados welcomed 56,132 long stay visitors, the highest on record in any given month since the April 2007 ICC Cricket World Cup. BTMI CEO, William Griffith, explained that the growth in arrivals was due largely to marked economic recovery and growing consumer confidence in the United Kingdom. Barbados UK arrivals grew by 11 per cent in 2014 to reach 186,858 visitors or 37 per cent of Barbados total arrivals. - more - In the United States market, he revealed that visitor arrivals declined by two per cent in Thus far, the BTMI has been able to replace 82 per cent of the 55,702 seats lost after the withdrawal of the American Airlines service out

34 of JFK. In addition, December was a record month for the US market, with 14,460 arrivals, the third highest number of December arrivals from the USA to date. The Canadian market, which was predicted to finish at 8 per cent below the 2013 performance, was down by two per cent at the end of The Caribbean market experienced a 10 per cent decline in seats via regional carrier, LIAT; diminished spending power among potential visitors; and high airfares that, Griffith argued placed regional travel in an uncompetitive position, in some instances, when compared to the cost of international travel. Overall, the Caricom market registered a decline of 9.9 per cent in arrivals. Of note, the European market continued to maintain double-digit growth in Germany, the Netherlands and Belgium were up 15 per cent, 17 per cent and 7 per cent respectively. Italy was also up 13 per cent over Similarly, arrivals out of Brazil were up by 18 per cent. The cruise tourism sector registered a two per cent decline in arrivals to reach 557,898 arrivals and home porting activity was five per cent below the previous year due to a decrease in calls across various lines. However, we welcomed 395 cruise ships, an increase of 21 vessels when compared to There were 1,164 more cruise stay visitors than in the previous year, with the majority choosing to stay 7-10 days Predicted as Year of Growth Building on the successful growth of the previous year, Barbados tourism arrivals are projected to increase by five per cent in Also for the year the island has recorded strong levels of visitor arrivals with preliminary figures showing January 2015 being the highest on record for the past 15 years with 56,132 arrivals. The USA grew by 14 per cent to 10,810, the highest on record since 201. The UK increased by 15 per cent or 2,790 more visitors to a total of 21,355 visitors and Canada made a significant jump of 27 percentage points to reach 10,578 visitors. To ensure that this growth is sustained in 2015, the BTMI will be combining a new digital marketing strategy and a deeper reliance on research with a new nimble business structure and several collaborative marketing programmes reach their targets. - more - A new programme dubbed, Brilliant Barbados, has been designed to drive incremental business in the traditionally softer period of the year. Griffith said.

35 The battle for growth and sustainability for visitor arrivals will not be won solely by winter performances. It requires greater effort and more targeted marketing activity in the summer and fall months. He added. The booking window for the Brilliant Barbados promotion will open from early March for five weeks and travel will be required between May 9 and December 19, Thirty participating hotels and a number of local attractions have come on board to offer visitors discounts. In addition, strong alliances are already being formed with several online travel agencies, tour operators and local industry partners to increase Barbados marketing presence at key gateways. The BTMI s CEO also announced the appointment of a new Director Marketing, Robert Chase, who has a master s degree in e-commerce. His department will hold responsibility for brand advertising, marketing strategy and the BTMI s online real estate. Additionally, the BTMI will begin the recruitment process for a manager of digital marketing and social media. It is anticipated that all new hires will be in position by the end of the year. Cruise is also projected to be buoyant with a five to six per cent increase expected to push cruise arrivals over the 750,000 mark by the end of Home porting is set to increase by 17 per cent this year and 12 new vessels calling the Bridgetown port will contribute an additional 177,551 passengers. Among the niche markets the BTMI will be focusing its marketing dollars on are the luxury, meetings and incentives (MICE), culinary and romance markets. Sports and festivals are also expected to factor heavily going forward. Griffith concluded by stating that the island was poised to regain market share and accomplish new milestones in 2015 and beyond. - ENDS -