I understand Government has recently commissioned a ten-year Tourism Master Plan which will be compiled over a period of 18 months and must commend them for this, albeit it’s difficult to comprehend why it has taken so long to get to this point.
As mentioned many times before, clearly one of the greatest challenges for accommodation providers on Barbados is attempting to remain competitive in a global marketplace.
This cannot be a private sector battle alone and Government and its massive Civil Service has to play their part as well.
As an example, take what should be a simple procedure for renewing an annual liquor licence. First you have to collect the form, or should I say forms as there are four of them, which despite requiring exactly the same information, have to be completed separately without using carbon paper.
Then you need all the necessary valid clearance certificates, including VAT, NIS, Income Tax, a hotel plus a restaurant licence. Each of these has to be applied for individually and this can take weeks in some cases.
The different agencies refuse to mail them, so every single one has to be collected personally. As some are only valid for two months, it is a real balancing act to ensure they are all still within that date-sensitive period, as and when the infrequent magistrates’ meetings take place.
Having leapt over all the above hurdles, my wife then is instructed to be at the Magistrates’ Court promptly at 9 a.m. on the given day, where up to another twenty tourism managers are attempting the same exercise.
Finally, the magistrate presents herself at 12:35 p.m. – by then a number of applicants have given up and gone back to work.
They will have to negotiate this same “minefield”, all over again at a later date.
So on that day alone, nearly five hours of a senior manager’s time was totally wasted. Add the time it takes to apply for and collect all the other documents and it’s probably closer to two working days overall.
For as long as I can remember, there has been endless talk about public sector reform, but where is the evidence it is taking place?
Government has to move away from these archaic practices if its real intention is not to frustrate business development at every turn with the negative effect this has on increased employment.
Why is it not possible to issue a unique identification number to every tourism enterprise via a website, where any Government department can post up-to-date clearance information?
This would then enable the various administrative and licensing offices, including customs and excise, to quickly ascertain if the individual tourism business had met all its statutory obligations at the click of a mouse.
Along this line of thought, it is now possible to settle a number of statutory obligations by credit card, but take it a step further and allow us to make payment online.
We are not asking you to reinvent the wheel, just adapt to the 21st century, as we have been forced to do, to stay in business.
