Re-energising the Canadian market is high on the order of business for acting CEO and president of the Barbados Tourism Authority (BTA) Petra Roach.
Roach, who has successfully managed the BTA’s London office, was recently brought home for a four-month stint as interim head of the soon to be defunct BTA while that body transitions to the new Barbados Tourism Marketing Inc and the Barbados Tourism
On Thursday, the tourism expert said her focus now was to develop business goals and cultural goals for Barbados’ main foreign exchange earner.
While she said the business goals were “easy”, the challenge would be how to get more people working inside and outside the tourism body “more engaged . . . more accountable and to be more passionate about what they are doing.”
With a range of activities, such as the celebration of British Airways’ 60th and Air Canada’s 65th birthdays in Barbados upcoming, Roach said tourism operatives could capitalise on these events to the island’s advantage. But she said it called for total engagement of everyone concerned.
“I think we can work more closely with the private sector, the Barbados Hotel and Tourism Association, encouraging the sector to align with our vision and make sure we consolidate our efforts in the marketplace and work as one unit.”
Asked what would be different in her approach, she said her idea would be to move away from a “bureaucratic system” to something which is more commercially and business focused.
The acting CEO said she would be looking at ulitising all the existing assets in a meaningful way to ensure that every penny spent made a difference to achieving the objectives.
With Barbados having a reputation as a destination for the more mature and aged, Roach said part of the focus will be on getting the demographic coming to Barbados lowered.
She also said an aggressive foray would be made into the Canadian market, once a top market for Barbados. (GC)
