THE IMPLICATIONS for Barbados that the closure of Almond Resorts Inc. could have are multifold.
There are repercussions for Barbados and its economy, implications in the major markets that service the country with tourists from Europe, North America and Canada, in addition to the country’s perception in the marketplace regarding the Almond product.
This does not necessarily refer to the product that is the Almond Beach Village alone, but right across the board – the entire Almond Resorts network.
But of more serious concern for Barbadians is the prospect of lost jobs, its impact on the country’s economy, the loss of the buying power that Almond Beach, as a major hotel, would have had, having served 300-plus meals, multiplied by two people per room, four times a day.
The knock-on effect has to be given some consideration – the impact on the amenities sector that would provide services to Almond.
People who would do work for them in terms of servicing air conditioning units, servicing swimming pools and all the other gaps in terms of outside contractors.
Looking at the overall picture, there are broad effects that the closure of Almond would have on the Barbados economy.
But the relevant authorities can react quickly enough in the marketplace to shore up the image that Barbados is still open for business and can provide adequate and appropriate accommodation to visitors to the island.
Regarding the fear that the closure will, some way or another, impact airlift to the island out of our major markets, that should not be a concern.
Even to the extent that there are 395 rooms at Almond Beach Village that are serviced by airlift out of Canada, Europe, Britain and other markets, this would not necessarily take a whole flight? out of service in Barbados for the loss of X number of passengers on a weekly basis.
This is also based on the assumption that this perceived loss of passengers was spread over the larger markets that service Barbados.
But again, a key factor to this argument is how quickly Barbados as a destination responds to getting the Almond Beach Village back into service.
Traditionally, Barbados runs an average occupancy of somewhere between 65 and 70 per cent, which makes losing what is five to ten per cent of our room capacity, though all-inclusive, not that major.
Barbados, given its mix of properties, should have enough surplus capacity to spread this loss among five to eight hotels across the island, including the villa market.
Looking at the total villa stock on the island, there are close to, if not over 2 500 good quality and in some cases expanding properties.
