BRIDGETOWN, Barbados - WITH the private sector backing the recently announced tourism initiatives it is going to be important to gauge whether the measures will in fact translate into an improvement in the island’s tourism industry.
Coming off an eight per cent to nine per cent decline in long-stay visitor arrivals during the first quarter of 2013, it was necessary to come up with measures that would improve the position of what continues to be the major plank in the local economy. Even when he gave his economic review earlier this month, the Governor of the Central bank of Barbados, reported declining arrivals from all major source markets for visitors to this country.
That scenario has triggered discussions, inclusive of whether Government is spending enough money on marketing the island, whether enough incentives were being given to hoteliers and others in the (tourism) ancillary services to boost arrivals, and whether our quality of service was up to date so as to make visitors want to return in the future.