Need for short-term plan

TOURISM OFFICIALS WILL need to come up with a short-term solution to boost visitor arrivals if the sector is to record any significant foreign exchange earnings during the rest of this year.
This is the view of businessman Bernie Weatherhead whose Sun Group includes the Savannah Beach Hotel and Time Out At The Gap.
He noted that while the tourism sector was “quite happy” with elements of last Tuesday’s Budget, many of the measures would benefit the sector in the long term but would not address immediate concerns.
Weatherhead was speaking on Wednesday at Hilton Barbados during the annual post-Budget breakfast meeting hosted by the Barbados  Chamber of Commerce and Industry and PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC).
One of the issues he felt the  Budget did not address was the  reduced demand for hotels below  the four-star level.
“If I were to speak to any tour operator, any provider of business to Barbados today, that is the biggest cry. The demand for Barbados has virtually disappeared below certain categories and that places a major problem on tourism now and for the next year and through the next winter.
“The generation of revenue in our industry in the short term certainly has not been answered by the Budget. Culture and sporting events are long term,” he said.
The veteran businessman also noted that the operating costs of the sector were not addressed.
“If you look at the electric bill at Savannah it’s over $100 000 a month. The water is over $35 000 a month,”  he revealed.
Meanwhile, president of the Barbados Hotel and Tourism Association (BHTA) Patricia  Affonso-Dass said the tourism  sector was grateful for the attention which it received in the Budget and would work with Government to get  the initiatives going.
“The $50 million with regard to refurbishment is a start but it is not necessarily the be all and the end all. More importantly, the visibility for Barbados in the markets that is [going] to be addressed by the additional $100 million is something that is critical.
“We have to get the visibility of Barbados up but those initiatives have to be measurable, they have to be immediate, they have to be well thought out,” she said.
The president noted that the BHTA would continue to lobby to get the National Tourism Host Programme: Barbados Together up and running.
“I think it is something that all of us can benefit from and it’s not something we can put on the backburner,” she said of the initiative designed to develop national awareness and achieve the engagement of all Barbadians in the tourism sector. (NB)