Call for more to be done to market Oistins as attraction

The outgoing president of the Bridgetown Port Taxi Co-op Society Adrian Bayley is calling for a major overhaul of Oistins as an attraction.

In an interview with Barbados TODAY, Bayley, who has headed the association for the past six years, said the island was not realising the full potential of the weekend liming area known for its fish fry and entertainment.

He said there were several issues that needed urgent attention to improve the area’s offerings and called on the relevant authorities to do so.

Bayley, who has been a stakeholder in the tourism industry for well over a decade, said that based on the number of visitors he interacted with over the years, overcrowding and access into the south coast town was a major challenge.

“We, very speedily, need to put in a food court on top of the Bay Garden where you can take at least 35 per cent of the people off the ground. A food court overlooking the sea would add to the aesthetics of the area and deal with overcrowding. They could put flame lights on the sand and that would bring a difference to the whole area. The authorities need to understand that they must intervene because Oistins is big business and a lot of the visitors complain. They are getting frustrated going into Oistins and struggling for somewhere to sit,” he said.

“I would also like to see the Government take the drive-thrus in Oistins and ask the owners of the establishments to make adjustments so they become more suitable for traffic to get in and out of the area. From at least 4 p.m. or 5 p.m. to 9 p.m. the drive-thrus should be closed off, especially on those days that attract the large crowds. This would stop the visitors who, in some instances, after waiting for hours in traffic to get to Oistins, ask the taxi operators to turn around.”

Bayley added that more needed to be done to draw crowds to Oistins during the week.

“Being in Oistins during the height of the winter season, the authorities cannot expect that bringing a Mother Sally, two stilt men, a Shaggy Bear and a tuk band would solve the problem in Oistins. We can’t just sell Oistins on Friday night, I think the authority that governs up there needs to do more. I think Q in the Community should be held there at least one Thursday each month so that we can expand on the attraction and not let it be just about the Friday night lime. One Sunday every month, there should also be some gospel activity there.

“Oistins is our biggest tourist attraction. The amount of people that traverse Oistins on a day-to-day basis, especially during the winter season, is in the thousands. Any peak time, let’s say on Friday nights, there could be about 5 000 people. All won’t be there at the same time but that amount passes through,” he said.

Repeated efforts to reach chairman of the Oistins Bay Garden Inc. Kemar Harris were unsuccessful up to late Tuesday.

Efforts were also made to reach Minister of Tourism Ian Gooding-Edghill and the Barbados Tourism Marketing Inc., to no avail. (SZB)