By Marlon Madden
ON ASSIGNMENT
Global Tourism Resilience Conference – Jamaica
While admitting that Barbados was “late out of the blocks” when it came to the full resumption of travel in and out of the island, Minister of Tourism Ian Gooding-Edghill says he is pleased with the level of recovery achieved so far.
Though not providing the latest figures, Gooding-Edghill told the Global Tourism Resilience Conference being held at the University of the West Indies regional headquarters in St Andrew, Jamaica that Barbados’ tourism arrivals continued to be very encouraging.
“We are recovering as a destination,” declared Gooding-Edghill, who was addressing his ministerial colleagues virtually.
The travel and tourism industry came to a halt in the first quarter of 2020 as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic, as countries closed their borders and introduced national lockdowns in an effort to curtail the spread of the viral illness.
Barbados was among those that introduced COVID-19 protocols for travellers, including several days of quarantine or isolation on entering the island. All travel-related protocols were discontinued on September 22, 2022.
“Barbados was perhaps the last Caribbean country to relax all of its protocols…. We had to do so because we place a premium on our public health and as a result of that we [acted] based on the advice of public health officials. So we are late out of the blocks,” Gooding-Edghill acknowledged.
However, noting that arrival numbers continued to climb, the long-time hotelier declared: “I am pleased with the recovery.”
“We have, like Jamaica, seen a resurgence in travel. We believe that we are about 60 to 75 per cent recovered in 2022 and, certainly, the arrival numbers into Barbados for December and January are also very encouraging and we are seeing increased arrival levels which we go back and compare to 2018 and also 2019,” he said.
The latest Central Bank report shows that total visitor arrivals reached some 442 576 at the end of December last year, just about 62 per cent of the record 712 946 visitor arrivals at the end of December 2019. During 2020 and 2021, the island welcomed just over 163 400 and 144 800 long-stay visitors, respectively.
Gooding-Eghill said the continued recovery of Barbados’ tourism industry was partially due to policies and strategies being implemented by the Mia Mottley-led administration to build overall economic resilience.
“Barbados continues to develop a number of strategies in terms of maintaining resilience and sustainability. We are very focused on this. The Prime Minister, when she took office, made it clear that we have to because of our geographic location and also because we want to become a country ensuring that we have met certain criteria in respect of energy, reducing fossil fuel and the corresponding effects of those on our island. We set out early on renewable energy strategies,” he explained.
“In terms of building out additional mechanisms for future development and growth, especially with the tourism sector, we have launched a number of funds in Barbados to ensure that our operating entities maintain their standards, but beyond that, maintain the resilience that we need to carry on sustainably…. We also have other initiatives that we are going to put in the marketplace but those elements that I briefly alluded to will cause us to be in a sustainable position.”
During a session on the first day of the three-day conference, Jamaica’s Minister of Tourism Edmund Bartlett highlighted the importance of building capacity to help create a more resilient and sustainable tourism product in the region.
“So, sometimes it is not straight tax incentives, it is building capacity to manage the processes better. It is not always about a tax incentive that drives efficiency and high levels of production and productivity, it is efficiencies that are derived from competence. So, the more efficient you are the more competitive you will be and that is good for the economy and everyone,” said Bartlett.
He also pointed to the need for greater private-public sector collaboration, as he warned against corruption and cutting corners when it comes to implementing procedures to strengthen the resilience and sustainability of the tourism industry.
marlonmadden@barbadostoday.bb
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