Has Barbados lost its appeal as a leading tourist destination?
Tourism is really the only game in town. Energy is expensive so it makes it difficult for a lot of manufacturing to take place, water is scarce so it makes it difficult for agriculture, and the agriculture inputs are very expensive.
So I feel concern for them as well. However, the tourism business in Barbados could be boosted. We have to take more care with our tourists. The nuisance on the beach continues on a fairly high level, the garbage that has been highlighted recently in the newspaper is everywhere, and the roads are getting into bad enough cndition now that even the tourists are complaining about those as well.
That said, I know that it’s a difficult time for Barbados, but some positive things have been done. The Richard Haynes Boardwalk on the south coast is a very positive development and is popular with a lot of the tourists.
Another positive is the South Coast Sewage Project, and the airport is pretty good. So I think those things have been positive with tourism, but safety and security is No. 1 so we have to make sure that when things are tough we are even more
vigilant to make sure tourists are safe, and locals too obviously.
Barbados is a unique tourist product in the Caribbean. It is one of the only islands that has so many different things to do that are all accessible.
You might be able to go to a destination like Cuba and they might tell you, “Well, in this part you have this and in that part you have that, but to get over there isn’t easy and it is a long way away”.
In Barbados, because it is so intensely occupied and it’s a small area, if somebody says “you should see Chalky Mount Potteries or you should see the Animal Flower Cave or you should see polo at Apes Hill”, you can see all of those things.
Possibly, if you are willing to push it, you can even visit them all in one day.
So that is a unique selling point.
The other thing I would say about Barbados, without any exaggeration at all, is that I still believe that Barbadians are the friendly people.
I get taken up on this from time to time because there are like one or two of the guys on the beach who make themselves a nuisance, but Barbadians are the friendliest people in the Caribbean, that’s my opinion.
We have a lot going for us, we just have to pay attention to the areas that need improvement, including those mentioned.
Gordon Seale is chairman of Calypso Caribbean Resorts Inc.
