Hotels in Barbados are anticipating a bumper 2022/2023 winter season, while also reporting a “limp” through the current summer.
“The good news is that winter does look promising, not only in relation to occupancies; members are also reporting good booking pace,” said chairman of the Barbados Hotel and Tourism Association Renee Coppin as she addressed the association’s membership at their Third Quarterly Meeting at Mount Gay Visitor Centre on Thursday.
Coppin said while summer occupancy was currently projected at 43 per cent, hotel occupancy was trending as high as 63 per cent in November. That trend, she said, was “similarly encouraging,” coming from other accommodation sectors such as villas.
The chairman was also upbeat about the upcoming winter season, as she announced cruise business was “set for a return this winter”. She said BHTA members and “premier cruise sector provider, Foster and Ince had given an indication of a cruise season “to be at 75 per cent of 2019 levels with an estimated 510 000 passengers”.
She said 2019 was a record year for Barbados’ cruise tourism as arrivals topped 800 000-plus visitors. (GC)
