Minister eager to boost arrivals from the region

by Marlon Madden

Minister of Tourism and International Transport Senator Lisa Cummins is attributing the continuous decline in visitor arrivals from the Caribbean mainly to a fall-off in airlift capacity. However, as officials in Bridgetown aim for a target of about two million visitor arrivals by 2023, Cummins is giving the assurance that work is being done to ensure that arrivals from the Caribbean is featured highly in that number.

The Caribbean market has historically accounted for about 15 per cent of total visitor arrivals to Barbados prior to the COVID-19 pandemic and before the restructuring of regional airline carrier LIAT. However, It has fallen to a concerning 11 per cent of arrivals.

“The Caribbean region quite frankly, is a little bit of a challenge for us at this time, largely driven by one major factor – airlift,” said Cummins.

In 2018, Barbados welcomed 21,020 people from the Caribbean for the January to March period. There was a slight decline in 2019 to 19,708, and in 2020 when the pandemic started affecting the region the total number of visitors from the Caribbean to Bridgetown was 14,465 for the first three months.

With the various lockdowns and border restrictions, visitor arrivals from the Caribbean reached a meagre 1,302 in 2021 during the first quarter. However, with border restrictions largely eased in 2022, the January to March period saw only 7,410 long stay visitors from the Caribbean.

Cummins acknowledged that the low numbers was cause for concern, while suggesting that the collapse
and subsequent restructuring of the Antigua-based LIAT airline in mid-2020 had an impact.

“It is fine when we talk about the international carriers. The international carriers are coming fast and furious and bringing in new lift all the time, but Barbados is also a hub for regional travel and intraregional travel as well as persons coming into Barbados.

Once upon a time we used to be able to fly to any different place in the Caribbean region on any given day, that has not been the case certainly over the last two years, and that makes it very difficult for us to be able to have the kind of programmes that we would want,” explained Cummins.

However, making it clear that local officials were “pushing” to have improved airlift capacity from the region, she said there were “partnerships that have already been unfolding”.

“We have Inter Caribbean Airlines, which has been ramping up capacity in the region, we have Fly Allways which has been there, we have Caribbean Airlines which has always been there and, to a lesser extent, we have LIAT,” said Cummins.

“It is important for us to be able to have the kind of airlift that is required to make that a reality. So we continue to be committed to working with all of the partners to ensure that we can expand the capacity for airlift, and in so doing, expand the capacity for intra-Caribbean movement,” she assured.

Cummins said if she had her way, she would aim for just about a doubling of total visitor arrival numbers by next year to around two million. She also promised that as new markets are explored and relationships are deepened Barbados would continue to act responsibly.

“The ministry has already begun work on a carrying capacity study that tells Barbados and tells us what is our genuine carrying capacity as a country, because there has to be a cross co-relation between our accommodation of room stock, our ability to process and receive claims and ships and our ability to process for example, a move from 1.2 million visitors to 5 million visitors per year,” she said.

Cummins was responding to questions during a recent media conference, following the unveiling of five giant postcards across the island as part of a Barbados Tourism Marketing Inc. summer promotion.

marlonmadden@barbadostoday.bb