IN LESS THAN A MONTH, the 2016 winter season will be upon us. Already we hear that hoteliers have been shelling out big bucks on their properties to make sure they are in tiptop shape to meet the thousands who will visit these shores.
This country’s winter season, which runs from December 15 to April 15, is gearing up to be one of the best, if chairman of the Barbados Tourism Marketing Inc., Alvin Jemmott, is right on the money in his recent projections.
The fact that big things are in store for the tourism product is just the news we need to hear in this country.
With an economy that is still struggling to come out of the tight grip of a recession, the news of strong alliances with airlines like JetBlue, with increasing airlift capacity into Barbados, Avianca out of Colombia and Thomas Cook out of the United Kingdom are welcome. This may just be the bright spark this country needs to feel confident that it can beat these tough times.
The timing also couldn’t have been better with Christmas just around the corner. With thousands flocking to these shores, we expect a boost in our foreign exchange since spending will be high among retailers.
The trickle-down effect is that taximen have the opportunity to do a ripping trade, retail shops will be able to employ more people as there is likely to be increased demand and other businesses like the tourist attractions, car rentals and so on will also benefit from what we hope will be a boom in business.
It is for these very reasons that we can ill afford to have crime mar our tourist industry. The caution has already been sounded by the Barbados Hotel and Tourism Association which, while acknowledging that police are doing a good job solving crime, recognises it could put the island’s reputation at risk.
We do not want Barbados to be known in international markets as a destination that is unsafe. The reality is that no amount of marketing dollars injected into promoting this country could ever erase any negative mark against it.
Already there have been advisories from the United States Embassy to its residents travelling to Barbados, warning them of recent violent crimes, as well as the upsurge of robberies involving the use of firearms. This is not what this country needs at this time, especially going into a season that is expected to reap bountiful rewards with projections that this year will see 60 000 more visitors compared to last year.
Tourism continues to be the one bright spark in our economy. As a result, we all need to play our part to ensure that this industry continues to do well.
We give the police top marks for going above and beyond to solve the recent crimes and we implore them to continue to stamp out this scourge.
The future of our economy and our good name as a tourist destination depends on it.
