Travelers Company

There’s been quite a controversy raging in the Canary Islands about the Mission Iceland launch of the No Winter Blues marketing campaign which took place in Reykjavik between 19 – 22 October. I was in Iceland, as the UK member of the press group, reporting on the initiative.

The campaign aims to promote the Canary Islands as the preferred Winter Sun destination for Northern Europeans. One hundred Canarian Ambassadors were recruited to travel to Iceland to select one hundred Icelanders to enjoy an expenses paid trip to the Canaries. The selection of the fortunate 100 Icelanders kicked off at a Castings Party in Reykjavik Art Museum.

Tamaimos.com, a Canary Islands current affairs website, is critical of some aspects of the campaign in their post Operation No Winter Blues. Tamaimos asked for my opinion of the campaign as a European tourism expert and a first hand observer.

There’s also been some negativity about the campaign on the Icelandic marketing blog Transmit in their post Unorthodox Marketing! The Canary Islands invade Reykjavik which is mentioned in the interview.

I was interviewed over Skype by Iván Vega, co-writer of Tamaimos.com. The interview was conducted in English, as I can’t speak Spanish and Iván speaks English very well. You can listen to the interview below (in two parts as at one point the line went dead). The sound quality isn’t great as the interview was done over a rather echoey line.

Part 1: Ivan Vega of Tamaimos interviews Karen Bryan of Europe a la Carte

Part 2: Ivan Vega of Tamaimos interviews Karen Bryan of Europe a la Carte

What’s your opinion of the Canary Islands Mission Iceland phase of the No Winter Blues initiative?