Tourism ‘under attack’ as bookings take hit

The COVID-19 respiratory disease has started to rip into Barbados’ bread-and-butter industry, tourism, resulting in more than a million dollar in revenue loss to some hoteliers as a result of cancellations.

This was revealed on Tuesday following a more than five-hour meeting of tourism industry figures at the Hilton Resort on the new strain of coronavirus.

Preliminary checks with some Barbados Hotel and Tourism Association members showed a significant decline in business as a result of the virus, said BHTA chairman Stephen Austin.

The novel strain of human coronavirus first appeared in China and has since spread to 118 countries and territories, the nearest including Martinique and Jamaica.

Austin said the BHTA was still in the process of polling hotel members to find out the true impact of cancellations and forward bookings.

But so far, 41 out of 81 hoteliers have reported that for March alone there has been a $1.2 million loss in revenue, due to cancellation of 2,853 rooms, he disclosed.

Austin said: “It is quite significant and we are working now on an emergency plan through the BHTA to try to help our members through this time.

“The next three to six months will determine if this continues we will have to find ways to cope and to help our members mitigate with staffing levels and training and helping the industry get through this mess.”

Prime Minister Mia Mottley also disclosed that a major airline has been seeking assistance from the Government as it reports a drastic reduction in business.

Mottley opted not to give details but said: “One of our prime airline partners has, I said, indicated a contraction and is already asking us to work with them with respect to some of the cost that they face.”

So far, several airlines have reported cancellations to several destinations that have been impacted by the virus, which has so far killed more than 4,500 people and infected more than 118,900 up to Tuesday.

Cruise tourism has also been affected, as several trips that were already booked have been cancelled and people are limiting any new trips for the time being.

Mottley said she was conscious that it was “still too early” for the BHTA to give a full picture of the impact that the COVID-19 disease was having on tourism, but said “we are lucky that this is coming at the backend of our winter season and not at the front end”.

The Prime Minister added: “Nevertheless, it is likely to have severe consequences.

“We have already seen some of our hotels start to face a contraction through cancellation.

“I anticipate that will have an impact on workers. We are committed that in this country we carry one another and we do not leave people at the side of the road.

She said it was against that background that Government would introduce a mild stimulus in the economy in a bid to help those who would be most affected.

She announced: “ Therefore, the Government has taken a firm decision that we will undertake counter-cyclical policies… [this means] we need to spend money in order to make sure that if a man or woman can’t work fully within the tourism sector that there will be other areas of economic activities in the country that we will now trigger or expedite in order to keep as many people working as possible.”