This week’s column is surely going to ruffle a few feathers, but I think it is important to express views that may not always exactly conform to the establishment.
The Internet has led to an historic level of dissemination of information and news around the world whether good or bad, sometimes within seconds of an event taking place.
Bold front-page headlines like Crime Crisis in local newspapers are no longer viewed within local domestic boundaries and have the capacity to severely damage our reputation as a welcoming (and safe) destination.
So am I advocating media censorship? Absolutely not!
Looking at the current situation from a tourism perspective, most of our visitors know that they are not travelling to a perceived island paradise devoid of crime.
With so many areas of the world to choose from and with the global economic challenges leading to often depleted earnings or investment return, the pressure is on to ensure we collectively bring every cherished guest back to our shores.
For travellers thinking of making Barbados their holiday choice for the first time, any adverse publicity could possibly influence whether they book or not.
If we are hoping to retain the repeat loyalty of visitors subjected to crime while staying here, then our guests need to know and be constantly reminded that we are taking the problem seriously.
Selective denial by those charged to protect the nation’s safety is not an option.
I can only speak with authority on the escalating level of crime directly effecting our guests over the last three years. For nearly two years prior to the vicious assault on Canadian Terry Schwarzfeld and her daughter-in-law who were staying at a nearby property, I had written, emailed and faxed repeated requests for increased police patrols in the Long Beach, Christ Church area.
Sadly, until that particular attack, not a single piece of this directed correspondence was responded to and many of the victims later became aware of that fact.
This is where we start to lose the respect of our visitors.
They realized it could happen but if we are going to have any hope of retaining their confidence, we must be seen to be puttting everything in place to ensure that these crimes do not take place again.
I am convinced that if our pleas had been acted upon, more of our guests and those of other neighbouring properties would have been taken out of harm’s way.
Following one of the more recent occurrences, I immediately drove again to Long Beach where the robbery took place only to find a plainclothes police officer and island constable under a makeshift shelter complete with hammock.
From this “cover”, large areas of the beach were not even visible.
On telling the island constable of the incident, she tried to call for assistance but her police-issue radio could not obtain a signal from that location – this. despite being within sight of the Royal Barbados Police Force’s Paragon training base.
After using a cellphone to contact back-up, three police cars and members of the Defence Force arrived within minutes.
But the damage had already been done, the guest returned home early and I doubt that she will ever come back to Barbados.
