Mega visitor boost

THE BARBADOS TOURISM AUTHORITY’s (BTA) marketing strategy of Mega Fam should see increased visitor arrivals from Brazil, Germany and the United States this year, helping to boost the poor numbers seen so far.
Barbados Hotel and Tourism Association (BHTA) president Patricia Affonso-Dass, who is also general manager of Oceans Hotels, cited the low figures in a report at the annual general meeting at the Lloyd Erskine Sandiford Centre on June 12.
She pointed out then that arrivals were down 6.9 per cent for 2013, and in 2012, “far from attaining the magical figure of 600 000 long-stay visitors, we only managed to reach 537 640 visitors, down from 572 065 in 2011”.
The SUNDAY SUN spoke to three travel agents who were part of the Mega Fam initiative which was held recently by the BTA to expose hundreds of agents currently selling the Barbados experience throughout major markets.