The Economist magazine yesterday highlighted data from the United Nations World Tourism Organization (UNWTO) that ranked Barbados fifth in the world in receipts per tourist.
This ranking placed Barbados first in the Caribbean and first in the Americas.
President of the Barbados Tourism Association (BTA), David Rice, said he was very encouraged by the report. Rice said that this specific success wasn’t achieved due to the number of visitors but by being able extract the near maximum amount per tourist.
He noted that the US were sixth in the rankings although having nearly 60 million visitors in 2010 as compared to Barbados’ 0.5 million (as calculated by the UNWTO).
Barbados was the only country in the top ten with fewer than one million visitors.
Rice said Barbados’ success was due in large part to its being able to offer a range of products and activities to tourists at all points of the financial spectrum.
“When a tourist here wants to go eat, they can go to the Cliff and get a great meal if they have the financial means, but they can also go out to Oistins and have a great meal at a great price,” Rice said.
However, Rice said Barbados needed to improve its existing attractions and still offer more. He noted the BTA was looking to boost Barbados’ offerings in arts, sports and to the “foodies” who had a lot to spend. He added Barbados was also looking at spiritual travellers and “squeezing into the huge market, which is an $18 million market in the US alone”.
Acknowledging that shopping needed to be increased, he said establishments such as the new Limegrove Lifestyle Centre in Holetown would help in that regard.
The Economist article noted that geographically isolated countries – such as Australia which placed first – fared well possibly because holidaymakers would stay longer and spend more on a long-distance trip.
Rice said he didn’t feel that was the case with Barbados. He noted the Caribbean was very competitive that it was easy for any one island to get lumped into a bloc and confused with the other nearby islands in the sun.
He said the difference between Barbados and regional competitors was its safe environment.
“We have a multifaceted destination where people can walk out in the streets and you can’t do that in some other competing islands.”
Rice recently came back from travelling to India – which ranked third – for a personal vacation and he said he noticed there how much they encouraged tourists to get out and taste the food and see the attractions.
He said that BTA took a little from every country to try and boost tourism here, “but we have a unique destination and we’re looking at our cultural identity”.
