Barbados has recorded modest growth in tourism for this year, with visitor arrivals for January reported at 53 000.
Chairman of the Barbados Tourism Authority (BTA) Ralph Taylor attributes the turn- around in performance over last year to stepped up advertising and marketing of the island to “reposition it” in major source markets such as the United Kingdom and the United States. Increased airlift out of the United States and Canada has also contributed to the increase, he noted.
Taylor joined BTA president David Rice and president of the Barbados Hotel and Tourism Association Colin Jordan at Almond Beach Club and Spa today to give the Press an update on the state of Barbados’ tourism, continuing the “conversations with the public” initiative started 18 months ago.
Britain’s troubled economy and the Advanced Passenger Duty imposed on Britons have affected Barbados’ tourism numbers from that country, and Taylor said: “ The BTA’s direction is that we must stem the negative decline in the United Kingdom”. However, he was hopeful that aggressive advertising programmes implemented by Barbados in the U.K. would aid in producing higher arrival figures for Barbados. A 10.4 per cent increase in arrivals from the U.K. has already been recorded for January.
There are also plans to target the younger Canadian market, but Taylor cautioned work must be done to “refresh the Barbadian tourism product”, based on what he had been hearing from Canadians.
Canada has long been a major source of tourism to Barbados.
