#10: 'MICE Conversations' - Nicholas Alleyne, CEO Blu Isles DMC Barbados

MICE Conversations: a podcast for the Meetings, Incentive Travel, Conferences and Events industry

'MICE Conversations'. In this episode I talk with Nicholas Alleyne, CEO of Blu Isles DMC Barbados. Nicholas is also Chair of the Barbados Hotel and Tourism MICE Product Committee.
More about Nicholas Alleyne and Blu Isles DMC Barbados.
https://bluisles.com
https://www.linkedin.com/in/nicholas-alleyne-94b664/
https://corporate.visitbarbados.org/priority-events/
Recorded Friday 18th June 2021.
This pocast is also available as a video, on the TravelMedia.ie YouTube channel.
https://youtu.be/G1np5t7lPPw
Topics and questions, timeline or video chapters.
00:00 - Intro and welcome.
01:09 - MICE in Barbados pre-pandemic.
02:49 - Trends? Safe equals small.
04:48 - Bubble experiences.
06:39 - Barbados property sizes?
07:37 - Safe Barbados.
09:27 - Current Covid testing protocols.
10:45 - Barbados rum hertigage.
13:21 - 2022, bookings or enquiries?
14:30 - What differentiates Barbados from other Caribbean islands?
17:19 - Has Barbados changed or has the MICE customer changed, post-pandemic?
19:30 - outro. Thank yous.
About the MICE Meetup Dublin
https://www.travelmedia.ie/mice-meetup-dublin/
Video transcript:
- Hello and welcome to another MICE Conversations. Today, you are either seeing us on YouTube or you are listening to us on your podcast preferred platform. Yes, we are now a podcast as well as a YouTube series. So welcome again. Today I'm lucky to be talking to Nicholas Alleyne, who is CEO of Blu Isles DMC in Barbados. Nicholas I know quite well. I was in Barbados a few times last year and back in December, Nicholas was my host. I was assisting a conference organizer who was in the process of organizing an event which will eventually take place. And Nicholas was brilliant in terms of taking both of us around the island showing us venues, et cetera. So that's when I understood that Nicholas was a MICE expert and somebody that we should talk to as part of this series. But as well as CEO of Blu Isles, Nicholas is also chairman of the Barbados hotel and tourism MICE product committee. There's a long acronym and title for you. But Nicholas really does know his MICE. He is one of the MICE experts in Barbados. So Nicholas, I wonder if we can start with just telling us what MICE was like, what the MICE product was in Barbados pre-pandemic. I know it's going to be different coming out but let's start with pre-pandemic. And just to set the scene, Barbados is a small island and a population of about 300,000. So, you know, it's going to be a unique MICE product by definition. So Nicholas, could you start with pre-pandemic MICE in Barbados?
- Thanks, Michael. Barbados pre-pandemic was an emerging MICE destination. We focus heavily on the incentive because of our unique and diverse offering. We found that incentive companies, rewarded their top employees with trips to Barbados. We created the unique experiences from board meetings on catamarans to our unique tours at the original first rum distillery of the world, with receiving local artisan gifts. Whether it be rums with their name engraved, local handmade mahogany, to all types of unique gifts. So we were creating unique experiences that had the employees really excel in so as they can achieve the trip, the reward of the trip the following year.
- Yeah, if ever there was an incentive as in the I in MICE, a trip to Barbados is pretty good. I think that will focus somebody's attention. Can we talk about trends, Nicholas? I'm conscious that what I've seen a huge amount of is one trend being everything going smaller. So safe equals small, as in less people. So 40 people going away on a trip versus 500 or 3000 and by definition, Barbados offers that in that it..........