Dear Source:
In your series of articles covering the Tourism Department and the Internet, we noticed that you have made no mention of the extremely popular and successful web site www.VisitStCroix.com.
With more than 60 St. Croix advertisers, including the three major hotels (Carambola, Buccaneer, Divi), the site is currently averaging more than 175,000 hits per month and is the most successful tourism portal in the territory. In May, VisitStCroix.com surpassed one million cumulative hits after just 10 months of operation.
In regard to the view that $1.5 million is an excessive amount to pay for the development of a full territorial site, we strongly agree. Moreover, we believe that the key to success is a private sector/public sector partnership.
By this, we mean the most effective site for the territory will be one where the site infrastructure is funded from government sources, and business-specific advertising – available through advertisements and links – is paid for by private businesses. Our firm has had such a proposal before the Tourism Department for more than six months, with no response.
More important, in this day and age, it is ridiculous not to have a web address appearing in the television advertisements that are airing in various sections of the mainland United States. For the St. Croix-specific ads, we have offered, at no charge, to let the Tourism Department use the VisitStCroix.com address. This would allow the government to measure the Internet response when the ads are running.
We truly believe that once the government sees the response, this will speed its decision-making process to launch a comprehensive Tourism Department site. Again, we have had no response to this offer.
Please check out www.VisitStCroix.com and call or e-mail us with your thoughts.
Tom Yaegel
St. Croix