THE FOCUS ACROSS BARBADOS at this time is on the pending February 21 general election. But it is also the high point of our 2012-2013 winter tourism season, which – no matter which party is victorious in the poll – will have to pay detailed attention to visitor arrivals and spend, an area that is critical to our economic prosperity.
Hopefully, we will hear from the platforms and also read in the manifestos of the plans to further develop and diversify the tourism product for the benefit of all Barbadians. While we are aware that a detailed report was recently discussed in Parliament, there is perhaps no better time than now for both the incumbent Democratic Labour Party and the Barbados Labour Party to let all the country know of their plans for this vital sector.
A number of issues related to our tourism sector must be dealt with, and one does not have to be an expert in the hospitality industry to recognize some of these challenges. The state of the game has changed, with competition having been stepped up from both the traditional and non-traditional competing land-based markets.
The rapid expansion of the affordable cruise sector has also added to the options the customer now has in an industry that is expected to continue to grow.
Over the years, Barbados has attracted thousands of tourists to its shores. The island has been spared many of the adverse events, such as acts of terrorism and even election violence, which have impacted negatively on other countries. Yes, there is the unwelcome air passenger duty on visitors coming here from our most important source market, Great Britain. This excise tax which is charged on the carriage of passengers fParties must share plans for tourismlying from a British airport has hit us hard.
However, not even this unwelcome tax has been able to stop the inflow of tourists and travellers to the island. The sluggish economic environment in Britain and the United States are the big issues for the many visitors who may want to come here. Diversification of our tourism will therefore be the key to protecting the industry and driving growth of both the land and cruise sectors in the future.
This means developing more products and services to supplement the existing ones so as to embrace the evolving needs of more sophisticated visitors. The range can span from medical, sports and culinary meetings, conferences and exhibitions to heritage interests and English language education.
We will need to combine varied offerings and maintain quality while providing excellent customer service on a consistent basis. We must explore Latin America, where, despite the poor air links, real opportunities abound for our market segments. Our politicians need to address the issue over the next two weeks.
