SMALL HOTELIERS have been urged to spend 75 per cent of their marketing budgets in building websites if they are to gain a fair share of the competitive tourism market.

This advice comes from William Jonckheer, advertising and marketing consultant of Curacao.

He was addressing hoteliers and key tourism partners attending the Caribbean Hotel Association (CHA) three-day Caribbean Small Hotels Retreat which started at Hilton Barbados yesterday.

Jonckheer told participants that an additional ten to 15 per cent of their budgets should be spent on maintaining the website and the remainder on marketing it.

Speaking on the subject How To Reach Your Potential Clients With Your Small Marketing Budget, he told those attending a round-table discussion that three to five per cent of their total sales should go towards marketing their product.

He warned however that before planning marketing budgets, it was vital to know what niche market would be targeted.

"With a small marketing budget you do not have the resources to reach the whole world," he advised.

He told the participants, most of whom operated hotels and apartments with less than 75 rooms, to "always advertise in niche market publications, send readers to the website and employ professionals to make your ad".

Jonckheer also said they should allow their respective hotel associations to conduct all marketing research, rather than do it on their own.