ONE HOTEL HAS REPORTED more than $200 000 in losses, another $22 000, because of cancellations related to the South Coast sewage crisis.
Chief executive officer of the Barbados Hotel and Tourism Association (BHTA), Rudy Grant, shared the figures with BHTA members yesterday during the association’s first quarterly meeting at Hilton Barbados.
He said a survey conducted by the association between December and last month showed more bookings being cancelled for this period, over last year’s corresponding months of the tourism winter season.
Despite this, Grant said the first quarter of the 2018 calendar year “provides a very promising start”, as meetings with travel trade partners at the Caribbean Hotel and Tourism Association’s Marketplace highlighted the island as a destination that remained “on the top of mind”, with a potential for further growth.
He acknowledged BHTA members in the area of Lanterns Mall and the Graeme Hall Nature Sanctuary in Christ Church were “challenged” with the sewage issues, while concerns in areas such as St Lawrence Gap had been “short-lived”.
Grant credited Barbados Water Authority (BWA) management for being “very responsive to the BHTA and its members”.
BWA general manager Keithroy Halliday empathised with the hoteliers, and gave them the assurance that everything possible was being done to correct the sewage problem. (GC)
