In light of the impact of the global spread of COVID-19 on its members and the island’s tourism industry, the Barbados Hotel and Tourism Association (BHTA) will focus its attention on the pandemic at its First Quarterly General Meeting on Tuesday, March 17.
The breakfast-meeting will be held at the Hilton Barbados Resort at 8 am, and will feature presentations by Dr Anton Best, Chief Medical Officer (Ag) and Dr Manohar Singh, Medical Officer of Health (Ports), both of the Ministry of Health and Wellness.
CEO of the BHTA, Senator Rudy Grant, explained that although there were no reported cases of COVID-19 in Barbados to date, the spread of the virus world-wide was still having a major effect on the tourism industry.
He noted, “We have already received reports from members about cancellation of bookings and millions of dollars in loss of revenue as a result, which is a major concern, especially at this time of year. We have been communicating with them and are fully committed to providing assistance where possible.
“Tuesday’s meeting will be an additional platform to do so, as we seek to keep our members up-to-date and provide information on plans and the measures being put in place to respond to the threat of the virus.”
During the Promotech-sponsored meeting, Chairman of the BHTA Stephen Austin will also give remarks while Senator Grant will present the Administrative Review for the last quarter.
The meeting is open to the public.
Is BHTA implementing a policy to refund or credit travellers for cancelled hotel/accommodations due to CV19 like airlines, VRBO, etc are doing? That would go a long way to encouraging repeat travel later this year and future years
When all other islands are refusing to allow Cruise ships to dock, why is Barbados allowing ships with covid 19 passengers to dock in barbados port.
I am concerned that there are people who may already have this virus, knows the symptoms are like having the flu or a bad cold and treating themselves with home remedies or getting antibiotics from the doctor while no test has been done to establish if they may have the virus or not. This is potentially very dangerous. This is not only the case in Barbados but in other countries like the U.K.