Those in the hospitality industry will soon be further educated on the efficacy of the COVID-19 vaccines.
Chief executive officer of the Barbados Hotel Tourism Authority (BHTA) Senator Rudy Grant said they were in the process of looking to enhance that in collaboration with their partners, the Ministry of Tourism and Barbados Workers’ Union.
“Some educational activity has been undertaken. They are at a preliminary stage of looking to see how there can be a greater thrust with respect to the educational component,” he said.
However, Grant said he could not speak to exact figures on the vaccination status of membership hotels.
“We are compiling that information now, so I could not speak definitively to those specifics with respect to that. You would have to give me another few days or so, but certainly by the end of next week I would be in a position that I could report in respect to that,” he said.
Grant said there had certainly been some comments coming from potential visitors regarding only wanting to stay at hotels where all staff or the majority were vaccinated, but overall Barbados being on the United Kingdom’s green list had been very positive for Barbados.
“Simultaneously with the announcement by British Prime Minister Boris Johnson, that Barbados was on the green list, immediately there was an increase in bookings so that our forward bookings at this stage show that for the months of July and August and September we would likely see occupancy around 32 per cent, October 40 per cent, November 54 per cent and December 55 per cent.
“However, I should say those are just preliminary figures because members are constantly reporting more and more bookings. Our expectation is that if things continue to be stable in the COVID environment, both in the source markets as well as here, we’re going to see a better performance than what is presently projected with regards to occupancy and arrivals,” he reported. (RA)