Barbados should urgently address problems in its tourism sector ranging from inadequate sales of indigenous handicraft to limited beach access and construction too close to the sea.
University of the West Indies lecturer Dr Janice Cumberbatch made the suggestion yesterday during a panel discussion on sustainable tourism.
The sociologist said people had spoken out about these and other problems during a series of town hall meetings recently held by the Ministry of Tourism and solutions were needed.
She said resorts were still being built close to the sea, despite the many warnings that these structures would be threatened by rising sea levels triggered by global warming.
“In the face of all the evidence, ecological, economic, social, you want to tell me that we still cannot make a justification for not building yet another condominium on the beach?” she asked.
“. . . You have all the evidence now. What’s so hard about the new tourism policy saying there’ll be no more tourism development on the beach?”
Cumberbatch said access to the beach had become a major complaint of Barbadians, at a time when hotels were being promoted as places where guests could “step onto your balcony and into the ocean”.
“As island people, we need to see our water,” she commented.
“We need to access our water and we can’t get at it.”
People fishing on the beach were also having problems, according to Cumberbatch.
“I have fishermen in my area in St Philip who say that they learn to bait in the night in the dark because if they turn on lights somebody is going to shoot at them,” she remarked.
There were many people who felt that they were not included in “this great thing called tourism that is supposed to benefit them”, the lecturer said.
People with disabilities charged that Barbados did not have “the right heights at check-in desks”, that they had difficulties getting on aircraft and that there were no signs in Braille, she reported.
Cumberbatch said people in agriculture were also complaining that hotels were not buying their food, while craftsmen charged that they could not get their products advertised or sold at hotels because of quota restrictions.