BARBADOS NEEDS A $182 million investment injection to maximise its earnings from tourism over the next ten years.
Last week, the BARBADOS BUSINESS AUTHORITY reported that Government’s new Tourism Master Plan 2014-2023 recommended pumping up to $20 million into transforming Speightstown into a heritage centre. That, however, is just a small slice of what Environment Planning Group Inc. in association with HLA Consultants have concluded needs to be done.
According to the tourism blueprint, Barbados should pursue several “priority actions” valued at about $182 million. The report also stressed that these funds should be sourced from a combination of Government, the local private sector, international investors, development banks, non-governmental organisations, and philanthropic contributions.
The recommendations included: a Fight For Freedom Interpretive Centre ($35 million); a Discover Barbados Centre at the Bridgetown Port ($30 million); a new sugar museum ($10 million); extend road signage programme ($7.5 million); revitalise historic Oistins as a heritage centre ($4.5 million); construct air bridges at Grantley Adams International Airport (GAIA) ($3 million); train safety and security personnel ($3 million over ten years).
Other proposals were: obtain Category 1 status for GAIA ($1.3 million); enhance the Bay Street corridor ($1.25 million); refurbish Morgan Lewis Mill and environs ($1.2 million); develop a High Visibility Tourism Awareness Caravan ($1 million); create an investor package for a conference hotel ($500 000); assess heritage sites ($400 000); create a digital dashboard for tourism master plan implementation and performance ($250 000 during the first three years); and consolidate responsibilities within the Ministry of Tourism ($200 000).
According to the tourism master plan, these actions were necessary to “realise growth in the Barbados visitor economy”. It was estimated that “extensive implementation” of the blueprint would see stay-over visitor arrivals moving from 562 558 in 2006 to 643 564 by 2022, while cruise passengers would grow from 539 092 to 620 922 in that same period.
Average spending per stay-over and cruise visitor was $3 009 in 2006 before falling to $2 139 in 2012, but the plan said this could grow to $3 163 by 2022.
“Growth targets have been set that demonstrate increasing numbers of visitors as master plan implementation occurs over the next ten years. The targets call for an increase in numbers of visitors and visitor spend. However, the only way that these targets can be realised will be through investment in services, products and infrastructure that comprise the Barbados tourism product, including accommodation, attractions, transportation, training and institutional capacity building, serving to make Barbados a more attractive and competitive tourism destination,” the report stated.
“Of great relevance to the potential issues of capacity is that these investments would provide visitors with many more options of what they could choose to do. The result is that the visitors would become more dispersed and there would be less usage pressure on potential bottleneck areas.
“Also, as there are more things for visitors to do and spending increases, they will be drawn away from the beaches that may be areas of greater significance relative to capacity issues.”
The tourism master planners concluded that over the next few years Barbados “needs to be more concerned with growing its economy through attracting visitors and, especially, giving them choices so they can spend more money.”