Since commercial flights have resumed in July, as many as 3,000 people have been landing here daily, Minister of Tourism Lisa Cummins told journalists Tuesday evening.
She said: “The numbers vary from day to day; as you would imagine this is a fluid situation. At December 2 we were expecting that with the previous lockdown in the UK that there would have been increased demand from December 3. Then we saw the UK going back into to lockdown and some provinces in Canada are also going into lockdown so long-range projections are challenging.”
She added: “On a day to day basis we are monitoring the arrival numbers in terms of our projections and actual and on a daily basis it could range from 400 persons to up to 3,000 persons.”
Senator Cummins said that the tourism ministry and “key stakeholders” have been meeting with the Ministry of Health in a bid to ensure that Barbados remains a safe destination.
“We have looked at flights through to January 15 and we have looked at the arrivals on a daily basis. We have also had the opportunity to plan how we can make a safe airport transition. We have also worked with the Ministry of Health to make sure that those who require a second test can be done so as efficiently and safely as possible,” Senator Cummins said.
But the minister was adamant that while the industry and the Barbados economy are vitally important, Government is not going to sacrifice the health of citizens or visitors.
She declared: “We are supporting our economy we are supporting our tourism industry but we are not doing so at the expense of the health of our guests or our Barbadians. We are not filling beds in hotels at the expense of having to increase beds at our hospitals or isolation facilities.”
When questioned by reporters, Senator Cummins said many hotels were operating with a 40 to 50 per cent cut in regular rates.
She said: “Hotel rates for the most part are heavily reduced. You would have most of the hotels who are charging at a rate that in some instances are 40 per cent to 50 per cent below their normal rate that is in keeping with what we have been seeing across the tourism industry in terms of hotels.
“Many of these properties have not earned any revenue for a total of ten months and we are calling on most of the hoteliers to reopen their properties to business and to make sure they reengage their workers and so there has to be a balance struck between what is a reasonable cost for a hotel or any business for that matter to operate and then what is the rate that can service the demand.”
(IMC)
