SOMETIMES IT IS fascinating how numbers can be used to create a false impression or “fake news”.
In one media report, a Government spokesperson is boasting of the increase one property on the south coast has made in arrival numbers. The fact that seems to be lost is that this hotel has 280 rooms, the same number that both of the previous operators managed.
Even achieving at year-round average occupancy level of 85 per cent, that remains a maximum of 25 636 guests based on two persons per room and an overall seven-night stay, whoever is operating the hotel.
To achieve this rebranding, Government extended extraordinary unilateral tax concessions previously unknown here and despite all the rhetoric are still not available in identical format to any other organisation, anywhere.
Yes, when additional rooms under construction are completed and online ready for occupation, this could and probably will make a positive difference to arrival numbers and attracting additional airlift.
In another section of the media, if the reporting is accurate, on a recent visit by the public policy head in Latin America and the Caribbean for Airbnb, Shawn Sullivan, stated that that company accommodated some “16 000 visitors” here last year, which represented around two per cent of all long-stay arrivals.
He also said that there were “1 100 Barbadian homeowners” Airnb host properties here, so it is logical to conclude that this amounts to far more actual rooms than the single property previously mentioned.
So what is the difference?
Well, first of all, I suspect our current administration is not privy to the audited accounts of the branded south coast hotel and has no idea what proportion of its revenue actually comes to Barbados.
As the vast majority of its consumables are imported free of taxes and duties, this again is an unknown benefit.
To be fair, Government also has little or no evidence of the net financial contribution that the 1 100-plus Airbnb lodging options make to the economy, but there is a massive disparity.
Almost without exception, the Airbnb properties would not have benefitted from any tax concessions due to the scale of their average size and number of rooms. This makes most, if not all of them, ineligible for duty-free local or imported items necessary for their operation.
Therefore. it is perfectly reasonable to conclude that more of the Airbnb earnings are spent locally and Government obtains and retains a higher level of fiscal benefit in proportion to their turnover.
As a 30-year operator of a small hotel, I am not advocating for a millisecond that Airbnb and similar accommodation offerings are given the same unique preferential concessions as granted to the single hotel in Christ Church.
But if there is ever going to be anything close to a level playing field to encourage greater sector investment, so that we as a country can maximise our tourism earning potential, this situation has to be addressed.
Email: re-discover@caribsurf.com