Commenting on Usain Bolt's world record-breaking performance, Bartlett said, “The impact on Brand Jamaica from Bolt's win is inestimable in value... He provides an unquantifiable amount of positive free publicity across the globe and he has become synonymous with Jamaica.”
Added prime minister Bruce Golding, "Our Brand Jamaica campaign has been given a priceless springboard because our athletes have name-branded Jamaica."
So how did a tiny island of 2.8 million people, covering an area just over 1% the size of South Africa and generating a GDP less than 5% thereof, capture the world's imagination by winning seven gold, four silver and two bronze medals and earning the title of the world's fastest (and coolest) country?
Astute destination marketing, in conjunction with one of the world's finest athletics scholarship programmes, has been key to growing Jamaica's tourism industry to becoming the island's biggest earner of foreign exchange - attracting more than three million international visitors a year and grossing close to US$2 billion.
Bartlett said he has been working hard with the Jamaica Tourist Board (JTB) to devise a sports tourism strategy on the back of the Bolt phenomenon, targeting five key sports on the island: athletics, football, cricket, golf and netball. “Sports tourism got a shot in the arm last week. JTB is now actively pursuing plans for the link between sports and tourism. 2012 Olympics is a target event to create the overall programme for the athletics component of this strategy.”
Repeating last year's success with its VIP Sports Lounge at the Beijing Olympics, the Club Jamaica VIP Lounge at the Berlin Championships was playing host to dignitaries, VIPs and leaders from the worlds of sport and travel, capitalising on the amazing buzz that surrounded the Jamaican team. The lounge enjoyed an unrivalled location - the panorama 37th floor of Berlin's tallest hotel, the luxury Park Inn. As well as affording the finest views in the capital city, the bar offered round-the-clock sporting action.
Said Bartlett, “Germany is a very important market for us... For the first six months of the year, it has shown growth of six per cent in tourist arrivals to Jamaica, which is better than the rest of Europe, including the UK... Essentially, we're utilising the power of Jamaica's athletes here to drive the country's presence in the German market and we are anticipating very rich rewards.”
Destination branding is as much a function of external reputation as it is of internal cohesion, and it was the latter benefit which was hailed by prime minister Bruce Golding. "The performance of our athletes at the Berlin games and the victories they have brought to our country almost on a daily basis confirm that this country is destined for greatness... We are blessed, our people are blessed and we now need to translate this energy, this determination, discipline and drive into all spheres of our lives."
Agreed minister Bartlett, "The impact of the Olympics for Jamaica was to change the conversation in the market place of Jamaica primarily as the destination of choice, and for that we had everybody talking about Jamaica as the sprint factory of the world and as the centre of high performance."
In particular, Jamaica's capital Kingston, long best known for its high levels of crime and violence, and boasting the highest murder rate per capita in the world in 2005, has been able to convert the Bolt Phenomenon into a source of unprecedented merrymaking and putting paid to Jamaica's national motto “Out of many, One People”.
Said political analyst James Moss-Solomon in the Jamaican Observer, “As a result of the outstanding World Record performance by Usain Bolt, Half-Way-Tree (the CBD of Kingston) came to a virtual standstill. There was no room for disputes, opposing political views, and even the normally aggressive mini-bus conductors came out for the happy embrace of the well-endowed Jamaican ladies who were dancing around.”
“There was no room in the square for anything else but love. Every athlete we have seems to embrace the casual, relaxed style of Usain, with great results. All share the honest happiness of Shelly-Ann's child-like exuberance, so much like the youngster getting their wish from Santa at Christmas. I could watch that happiness forever.”
Concludes Moss-Solomon, “What if, we could replicate these feelings of human tolerance, respect, and love for one another? Can you imagine how many guns, ratchet knives and ice picks would become immediately redundant? Can you imagine how much stress would be removed from our small society, and how stupid political divisiveness would die a sudden death?”
Indeed, what if South Africa could follow the Jamaican example of converting sporting excellence to destination branding riches, and at the same time unite the nation behind Madiba's call to action to “build a nation of champions”?
