Monday, August 16, 2010

Tom Ingram, DEMA, Gives Presentation to Bonaire’s Tourism Industry

Tom Ingram, Executive Director of DEMA (Diving Equipment and Marketing Association) was recently on Bonaire.  While on-island, he gave a presentation to members of the island’s tourism and diving industries providing profile data of the type of person who comes to Bonaire for diving.

Tom explained that the profiles have been generated from a database of nearly 30,000 Bonaire visitors who responded to a survey.  This survey revealed the behaviors and characteristics of the type of American who visits Bonaire.  This data is important to those in Bonaire tourism as it provides a better understanding of the island’s current visitors, and services can be more closely targeted to meet the needs of this diving consumer.  Most importantly, the survey helped identify geo-demographic segmentation, clearly identifying the potential “Bonaire visitor” by geography and demography, including factors such as income, education, mode of travel, employment, geographic mobility, place of work, occupation, age, race, ethnicity, as well as other variables.  The database is updated yearly, so data is kept current.

Tom has been working within the diving industry for over thirty years, and coupled with that he has a strong background in business.  Tom managed a small business development center for the Small Business Administration in Florida, and he taught both a business program and a diving program for over fifteen years at Barry University, also in Florida, and with the Florida Institute of Technology, now located in Melbourne, Florida.

DEMA continues to provide this type of information to the island as a benefit of Bonaire’s destination sponsorship of the DEMA/Be a Diver Pool, which is a 20 x 30 foot, 15,000 gallon mobile pool which traverses the United States stopping at two- and three-day, large-scale venues. It is complete with a portable setup that includes dressing rooms, towels, all the newest diving equipment including wetsuits and fins, an air compressor, and a pavilion for registration and consumer interaction.  (Source:  Bonaire Insider reporter)