Internet Versus Traditional Advertising
Atlantis Paradise Island Resort and Casino
Internet Versus Traditional Advertising
The Bahamas have suffered in the recent past because of declining tourism due to a host of factors, including pollution and a decaying infrastructure. However, those problems have been eliminated during the 1980s and once again the Bahamas is seeing record numbers of tourists arrive. In 1995, “3.23 million foreign tourists visited the 700 islands that make up the Bahamas” (Bergsman, 1996: 1). One of the biggest problems causing the decline in tourism was the outdated hotels, many in disrepair. The government owned many of the hotels but sold them to private developers during the 1980s. The result has been a variety of world-class hotels and resorts emerging on the islands, like Sun International’s Atlantis, modeled after a Las-Vegas theme hotel, “The Atlantis property boasts beaches, waterfalls, pools, slides, lazy-river tube pool, and an immense aquarium with a walk-through tunnel. Atlantis also boasts a huge casino. The product has been so successful, the company is planning to build another 1,000 rooms” (Bergsman, 1996: 1).
Of course, the goal is to keep increasing the number of annual visitors to these new investments in the Bahamas, and hotels use a mix of media, including television, print, radio and other forms of traditional marketing. However, with the advent of technology and the Internet, Bahamas tourism is also actively promoted via the Internet. The main Internet site for Bahamas tourism is: http://www.interknowledge.com/bahamas . This analysis will explore the traditional and Internet forms of marketing through a cost comparison. Three main Bahamas hotels will also be analyzed: the Radisson Cable Beach Resort; the Atlantis Paradise Island Resort and Casino; the Nassau Marriott Resort. A conclusion will discuss Bahamas hotel and tourism marketing in the future.
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