Barbados’ cruise tourism is in trouble, and the Barbados Hotel & Tourism Association (BHTA) is pushing for an urgent meeting with Minister of International Transport George Hutson, through Minister of Tourism Richard Sealy, to discuss the situation.
Only one cruise ship will call at the Bridgetown Port weekly next summer, which is expected to result in a dramatic decrease in cruise passengers into Barbados.
And BHTA president Colin Jordan yesterday slammed the Government for “the sloth that seems to characterize the approach of policymakers to the situation in the cruise industry”, while others in the private sector were making alternative moves to find replacement for the cruise business about to be lost.
Jordan said many people involved in the direct tourism services sector were “staring down the barrel as a result of what the future portends in the cruise industry” and that it appeared the only action being taken to address the problem was private sector-led.
Read the full story in today’s DAILY NATION.
