BHTA writes Government about BEST challenges

Stories by Marlon Madden

More than two dozen tourism-related businesses have signed up for the Barbados Employment and Sustainable Transformation (BEST) programme, but have faced some challenges preventing them from fully benefiting.

Officials at the Barbados Hotel and Tourism Association (BHTA) confirmed the development on Thursday, while indicating that the association has written the
Mia Mottley-led administration on the matter.

Chairman of the BHTA Geoffrey Roach declined to say exactly what the challenges were, but Barbados TODAY understands that some of the concerns related to the bureaucratic procedures.

Roach confirmed that the BHTA had met with members to find out what issues they encountered in applying to the programme.

“We have collated that information and we have actually written to Government to indicate that there are some challenges, and we expect Government would respond to us and seek to have those problems addressed,” he said.

When pressed on the nature of those challenges, Roach told Barbados TODAY: “I don’t want to go into them in details because we have written to Government and we are awaiting a response, but what I would say is that it is a new programme and we anticipate, just like any new programme, there would be some teething problems.

“The teething problems that we have identified are not things that we believe are insurmountable and I think discussions with the Government on how the process can be better refined should bring about speedy resolution on those matters.”

Roach added that he was confident that once the issues identified by members were resolved then there would be more people applying to the programme.

The BEST programme, announced by Government in response to hotel closures as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic, emphasises re-engagement of workers in the tourism sector. Tourism firms are offered grants to re-employ workers at 80 per cent of their normal pay.

The other component of the programme is investment in the form of preference shares, to fund investments in transforming tourism plants.

There is an initial limit of $2 million per property for the investment component, with a maximum of two such investment plans per single owner.

There are already some 37 applicants, comprising hotels and direct tourism services, to the BEST programme.

Chief Executive Officer of the BHTA Senator Rudy Grant said 19 firms applied for the investment component of the programme, which he said represented just about $13 million.

“So, we do have members who are applying to the BEST and we do believe it is a good facility that has been put in place, but we have to have some further discussions as well,” he said.

Meantime, Roach explained that employers were keen on holding on to their employees, given the level of investment made in their training and development over the years.

“You don’t want to necessarily lose them. If you lose them through severance you might be able to only get back some, because some people might move on to do something else. So, by and large, I think some of the members have recognised that is critical to their operation, and as such are trying wherever possible to re-engage those staff members so that their teams stay intact with the level of service that their operations have become known for,” he said.

The BHTA officials were unable to say how many members paid out severance but said from reports from members, “there have not been a significant request for severance”, giving the impression that they were more interested in reengaging workers.

They also reported that some tourism firms continued to reach out to workers, giving an example of one establishment that took over the full payment of medical contributions that was previously paid partly by the employees.

(marlonmadden@barbadostoday.bb)