The sunny weather didn’t slow down the TravelMedia.ie/TTR gang during the month of May. As we welcomed the summer, we continued to work for our clients – hosting webinars, distributing press releases, producing quality content and plenty more! Read on to find out exactly what we did this month…

Visit Barbados Webinars

TTR’s Leila McCabe has taken working from home in her stride, becoming our resident Zoom extraordinaire. Leila has hosted a number of Barbados webinars alongside members of the Barbados Tourism Marketing Inc. for the travel trade. From accommodation options to cocktail making lessons, these webinar sessions have left members of the Irish travel trade experts on the Gem of the Caribbean.

Travelmedia.ie Media Catch Up Calls

Over the pandemic period, Niamh and Michael have hosted group Zoom calls with Irish travel media to find out how there are, what content we can help them with and how we can continue to best work with them on behalf of our clients. These calls are always extremely insightful and very sociable. It’s been great to see some familiar faces again, even if on Zoom and we thank the media for taking time out to join us on them.

Barbados – Travel Agents Appreciation Day

As part of Travel Agents Appreciation Day, the 6th May, Barbados Minister Kerrie Symmonds, reached out to thank the travel agents in Ireland and the UK for their support – check out his video here. As well as this, TTR ran a competition on behalf of Visit Barbados, in which travel trade had the chance to win a Barbadian cocktail kit and experience the taste of Barbados from their own home. The competition ran on TTR’s Facebook page for two weeks and asked agents to comment what their Barbados is. The winners of the cocktail competition, chosen at random, were: Paula Cross- Platinum Travel, Sean McCarthy – HRG Worldwide and Paddy Dunne – American Holidays Belfast, we hope you enjoyed your Barbadian cocktails!

Cook with Couples Resorts

While their resorts have been closed due to the COVID-19 pandemic, Couples Resorts Jamaica have been posting some great cook-along videos on their Facebook page, with the help of our digital diva, Bronagh McNamara. In these videos, Couples Resorts share delicious local recipes that are easy to follow and a bit of fun! All videos can be found on the Couples Resorts Facebook page.

Blog: Coronavirus Travel Hashtags.

In May, TravelMedia.ie published the blog ‘Coronavirus Travel Hashtags’ a continuation from our ‘Top Travel Hashtags’. In this piece, Michael Collins dove into the world of Twitter hashtags, researching the top hashtags relating to coronavirus travel. Michael listed the top 30 hashtags in terms of potential reach, and some of the top ones may come as a surprise! Maximise your future tweet reach by checking out the blog here.

Memories of Barbados

Some of you may remember in April, when TravelMedia.ie released our Memories of Barbados video, in which some of our travel industry friends shared their memories and travel tips from their time in Barbados. The video did quite well and over the month of May, we created new, shorter videos for each person that participated in the original project. Take a look for yourself on our YouTube channel.

Visit Portugal Media Webinar

This month, TravelMedia.ie’s Niamh Waters and Michael Collins organised a webinar with Visit Portugal’s Susana Cardoso and members of the Irish media. During this webinar, Susana outlined Portugal’s lockdown exit strategy, including dates for the re-opening of beaches and popular tourist attractions. This information was of great help to the media and offered some much-needed positive news into the Irish travel industry!

Niamh had an Antibody test with Tropical Medical Bureau

At the end of May, the Tropical Medical Bureau announced the launch of their in-clinic antibody testing service and TravelMedia.ie’s very own Niamh Waters was first in line to get this test done! Niamh attended TMB’s Dundrum clinic where she had her blood taken and received her results within 48 hours. Niamh described her experience as “incredibly easy and thankfully painless”. Watch Niamh’s COVID-19 antibody testing video below!

10 Reasons We Love Travel Agents

TTR loves travel agents, and in honour of Travel Agent Appreciation Day, we wrote a blog listing the top 10 reasons that we love travel agents! As you can imagine, it was difficult to whittle our list down to just ten. Some of our top reasons include agents’ endless knowledge as well as their infectious passion for travel. Read more here.

Beautiful Barbados Video

On the 26th May, TravelMedia.ie published the video ‘Beautiful Barbados with Melinda Hughes and Friends’. This project was created by Melinda as a thank you to all the wonderful people  who welcomed her to the island. The iconic song features artists who have a special relationship with Barbados, including Sir Cliff Richard and Sir Emile Straker. The video has done very well and received a great response on across social media. Watch it for yourself below.

Business Traveller YouTube Videos

Over the month of May, Business Traveller’s Tom Otley virtually interviewed a number of travel experts on their thoughts on the future of travel, everything from aviation to hotel cleanliness. With the help of Leslie Graham and Bronagh McNamara, these interviews were created into videos and uploaded to Youtube. These videos are very informative and have been doing quite well on YouTube. Check them out for yourself on the Business Traveller YouTube channel.

That’s all folks! June is showing no signs of slowing down so, stay tuned…