Tourism boost predicted for B’dos

British travellers are expected to fork out over BDS$757.8 million dollars on trips to Barbados this year, a study has found.

According to the European travel health firm Practio, Brits are set to spend a whopping £271 million on trips to Bridgetown in 2021.

“While many holidaymakers missed out on a summer break abroad last year, new data suggests more than 170,000 Brits will jet off to Barbados once travel restrictions are eased,” said Practio.

The prediction by the travel health expert comes on the heels of news that the UK government has added Barbados to its green travel list effective June 30. This means that Brits who travel to Bridgetown for a holiday will not have to quarantine on their return home.

Practio said its prediction of major spend by UK travellers to Barbados was based on the analysis of ten years (2009 to 2019) of UK travel data from the Office for National Statistics.

Noting that the forecast would be welcomed news for businesses across the island with UK tourists set to start entering the country from this week, the travel health firm said on average, sun-starved Brits are expected to spend £1,524 ($BDS 4,224) per visit.

“With traditionally popular European tourist destinations including Spain and France requiring Brits to quarantine for ten days upon their return, Barbados is in line for a bumper summer with spend from British tourists set to top the forecasted £271,122,898,” the company said.

Commenting on the research, Managing Director and Co-founder of Practio Dr Jonas Nilsen said “We wanted to pull this exhausting research together to understand UK travel trends over the past ten years, but also to give us an idea of what this means for travel in the future.

“Travel was mostly out of the question in 2020 and many of us are hoping for its return later in 2021. By predicting future trends we can better equip travellers and businesses that thrive off tourism by helping them to prepare for what’s to come and how they can make the most of Brits’ travel habits,” said Nilsen.

“It’s also been great to see some of the emerging trends and how travel is changing. We’re seeing the go-to destinations start to change with more money being spent on countries further afield, which should be a good sign for the future of the travel industry beyond the pandemic,” he added.

In a research released earlier this year, Practio declared that Barbados would remain among the top destinations of choice for the next 30 years, adding that female travel to the country would increase at a compound average growth rate of 7.04 per cent per year.

Practio had predicted that both male and female UK travellers to Barbados would spend an average of about BDS$5,700 (about £2,042) per visit by the year 2030.

“In total, it is predicted that holidaying Brits, both male and female, will spend a total of £670,415,954.24 (about BDS$1.9 billion) in 2030 in Barbados,” it said back in March.

Link to Practio’s research: https://practio.co.uk/travel-health/articles/popular-holiday-destinations-for-brits-when-travel-opens-up

(marlonmadden@barbadostoday.bb)