The third week is winding down, and we're getting into the meat of our project here on the island. Fortunately, a representative from Vacation St. Marteen came to talk to our class this week. Ms. Gianira answered extremely helpful questions before we start creating our book. My group thought it'd be critical for our client to be active on TikTok. However, Gianira explained that since the tourism bureau is government-owned, they're only given a certain amount of funds, and TikTok doesn't fit the budget. She says their main priority for spreading awareness about the island is through Instagram and Facebook. She also listed challenges they face being government owned we never would've thought of. She mentioned partnering with businesses will be a problem because it will look like the government is showing favoritism. Also, Gianira told us many businesses are unregistered on the island, so there's no chance they'd work with an unregistered business. With all this being said, we now, as a team, face a challenge. Partnerships and Tiktok would be our strong points in the presentation, but now we have to re-strategize our approach.
The next day, we focused and devised our strategies and tactics to best connect with our age group. We noticed that many workers on the island are expatriates from other Caribbean islands, the middle east, or the Netherlands. We decided to reach out to some to hear their personal stories on why they left their home countries and what attracts them to Sint Maarten. We will also ask tourists what attracted them to Sint Maarten and whether they'd return and recommend the island to friends and family. Lastly, will interview the medical students here on why they chose an island for medical school and whether they would vacation here or return after their program. With these findings, we plan to make a creative plans book for 18-22-year-olds that should be useful to the tourism bureau on how best to market to this age group. After all, we are our own age group, should it shouldn't be that hard.
The rest of the week was pretty chill for me. I've just been trying to catch up on work. On Friday, however, I went to one of the most beautiful beaches I've ever seen. We went on another catamaran in Anguilla, which is a British-owned island. The beach, called Prickly Pear, was so tranquil and quiet. It had beautiful white sand and calm turquoise water. I could've stayed there all day, honestly. When they took us to another swimming spot, I actually got out in the ocean. I can't swim, so I did start freaking out and immediately went back on the boat, but I'm proud of myself for even getting in the ocean. I enjoyed this catamaran more because everyone was more comfortable with each other and was entirely themselves. On the first week, we were still figuring each other out what to say and what not to say. However, this catamaran was a chill, laid-back day, and we connected with each other even more. I'm excited, nervous, and feel fantastically surreal to approach are final week here on the friendly island.
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