A balance must be struck in St Lawrence Gap between people who want to party all night and those who want to sleep, cautions Barbados Hotel & Tourism Association (BHTA) president Colin Jordan.
Jordan made the point last week in response to a question about complaints of business loss by entertainment operators in the popular tourist belt at a public update on the state of Barbados’ tourism.
He shared the exercise with Barbados Tourism Association president David Rice and chairman Ralph Taylor during the session at Almond Beach Club & Spa.
St Lawrence Gap entertainment operators had been complaining about fall-off in business, which they blamed on enforced earlier closing times. But the BHTA?head explained: “We have an interesting dynamic in St Lawrence Gap where there are nightclubs and restaurants, and there is also accommodation; and the balance has to be struck because there are those who party in St Lawrence Gap and there are also those who try to sleep.”
Jordan said there were many situations where people had either left their accommodation in The Gap to go somewhere else or left the country altogether because they could not sleep.
Not all things . . .
“They understand that when you come to an area like St Lawrence Gap, you are not going to get to sleep at 10 o’clock, but they don’t expect to get to sleep at 4 o’clock in the morning.”
And he advised that Barbados “could not be all things to all people”, observing: “I don’t think Barbados is the country for the Spring Break crowd. And we are just not that country for people who would want to party every night until four or five in the morning.”
Taylor, on the other hand, suggested the problem of declining business in The Gap had more to do with joint advertising, marketing and greater awareness.
“I do not believe that there is enough that is done on the ground nationally to make the visitor aware that this stuff is available. They are in our literature and in our advertising, but the St Lawrence Gap operator has to get out and try and get to the visitor.”
