Local Touring Company

How a Hunter’s Grant recipient tripled revenue at his travel agency during the COVID-19 pandemic

Cenus Hinds has always been ambitious. The St. Vincent native and self-proclaimed “serial entrepreneur” won a grant from Hunter’s Fund in 2020 for his company Cariway, a boutique travel agency that connects travelers to local hosts in popular island destinations. Cariway isn’t your average travel agency — it’s specifically focused on supporting local economies by highlighting community businesses that offer unique activities from kayaking to volcano tours and even adventures in rum tasting.

But when the COVID-19 pandemic brought travel to a near standstill, Hinds pivoted Cariway’s strategic plan. Instead of focusing on attracting tourists, the company would concentrate on providing tourism experiences to locals living on the island. In doing so, Cariway’s average monthly revenue increased by more than three-fold, all during the ongoing pandemic.

“We live in a society where tourism experiences and fun things have been reserved for foreigners,” Hinds says. “But foreign travel just isn’t happening right now with COVID-19.”

In recent months, 90 to 95 percent of Cariway’s customers have been locals on the island.

“They’re just people on the island who are bored and looking for something different to do,” Hinds says. “And when we offer these experiences to locals, they quickly take advantage of them.”

In order to attract the new customer base, Hinds turned to the internet and social media. Fortunately, his background in tech and web design came in handy.

“I actually have a background in social media, software development, and website building, so it's kind of what I came from going into this,” Hinds says. “And at the beginning, I kind of had to do it myself. Everything was pretty much self funded.”

Since receiving a grant from Hunter’s Fund, Hinds has hired a dedicated social media coordinator who now runs the brand’s social profiles on Instagram, Facebook, and Twitter.

In order to grow Cariway’s social media and web audience, Hinds says he focused on encouraging prior customers to share content and post reviews about their Cariway experiences. He also asked locals what activities they would be most interested in, and curated the brand’s content around their responses.

“I think one of the biggest things in growing the website was understanding what it is people wanted to see, and how I could fit that in what I was offering as a business. So one of the things that I did a lot of is blog posts focused on topics that people are most interested in,” Hinds says.  “A big thing was also asking people to review and upload pictures of their experiences. That has definitely helped us jump to the top.”

You can keep up with Cariway by checking out their website www.thecariway.com, and following them on social media @thecariway.