Minister out of touch with tourism, says DLP

Democratic Labour Party (DLP) officials have dismissed comments by Minister of Tourism and International Transport Senator Lisa Cummins about strong bookings for the upcoming winter season, saying she was ignoring what was really taking place in the sector as reported by hoteliers.

President of the DLP Verla De Peiza and former Minister of Tourism Richard Sealy have insisted that Cummins did not have a plan for the sector and that she was on a “different page” to that of the tourism operators.

On Wednesday while welcoming a new Aer Lingus flight to the island out of Manchester, England, Cummins reported that while some hoteliers have been reporting cancellations due to the slow vaccination rate in Barbados, this was not the case for the majority.

In fact, what seemed to be a direct contradiction of what a range of hoteliers have been reporting, Cummins said her understanding was that “for the majority of partners in the industry our occupancy rates are high. They are certainly in excess of 70 and 80 per cent and some properties are actually full”.

However, several hoteliers across the A-class and B-class have been crying out in recent times that there have been mass cancellations as a result of concern over the island’s vaccination rate, with some collectively losing out on millions of dollars as a result. Some hoteliers have reported hundreds of cancellations between September and October.

Former Minister of Tourism Richard Sealy said the situation was worrying and should be of concern, especially since the would-be visitors were abandoning their trips to Barbados in favour of other destinations.

“My understanding is that they are going to the Seychelles and elsewhere and that is a little worrying . . . they are not cancelling their vacations they are cancelling Barbados,” Sealy told a media briefing on Thursday.

Sealy said he suspected that the true picture of the cancellations would not be realized until “further down” in the year, but quickly pointed out that if the cancellations were coming between September and October, traditionally slower months for travel, then there should be even more cause for concern.

“It is okay to be dismissive, but frankly speaking, September and October are your trough months and if you are getting cancellation in your trough months, that is the time you should be even more worried because that is when you want business,” said Sealy.

“Glowing over winter bookings is not a response because the truth is you were going to see cancellations but closer to the time. You are not going to cancel now for a vacation planned for February. So I think we need a plan. We don’t have a plan. It is obvious over and over again,” he said.

Sealy said he was “mystified” that Government and the accommodation sector seemed to be on “opposite pages”.

“It is beyond puzzling and it needs to be rectified. This is not a time to be playing games. This is a time to get on the right page as soon as possible,” he said.

Sealy said he got the impression that the Barbados Hotel and Tourism Association (BHTA) needed a more meaningful audience with the government, but the government was simply not engaging.

De Peiza also questioned why the tourism minister was speaking about an “uptick in bookings” when hoteliers speak about the “uptick in cancellations”.

She believed the hoteliers “know better” and therefore instead of choosing a portion of statistics to “speak glowingly about”, Cummins should come up with a plan to help halt the cancellations.

“Having an increase in bookings is not sufficient. We also have to hear and digest what the hoteliers are saying in relation to the cancellations and that is worrisome. I just cannot get it through my head how the Minister of Tourism ignores that aspect when she speaks glowingly of our winter season. The hoteliers know better,” said De Peiza.

“Bread and butter for most Barbadians is tourism so we have to have a critical eye to all of the statistics. We can’t just pull out the ones that suit us because they do not give the correct picture,” she said.

At the same time, De Peiza said she believed one of the main reasons for the mass cancellations was as a result of the rising COVID-19 positivity rate in recent weeks.

She said Government should urgently “fix” the COVID-19 situation affecting the island, pointing out that the tourists were aware of what was taking place in Bridgetown.

“It is a fallacy to speak to our vaccine rate being the reason for the cancellation because they know what our vaccination level was when they booked. The critical issue is the rate of infection within Barbados and do you run that risk on vacation. That is the critical factor, and that is what we need to be addressing as a matter of urgency to bring Barbados back up for our own health first and then to have a tourism product that we can offer for our guests,” she said. (MM)