Travel boost

Barbados could welcome thousands of visitors from the United Kingdom (UK) this winter season with travel group TUI UK revealing plans for a major boost in flights to the island as well as the homeporting of two of its largest cruise ships.

According to Minister of Tourism and International Transport Senator Lisa Cummins, the island will benefit from over 54 000 planned airline seats, a major increase over last year.

She noted that this extended programme reconfirms TUI UK’s commitment to Barbados and underpins their confidence that the island is a key destination for UK holidaymakers.

“We are pleased with the news that TUI UK will increase their Barbados programme for the 2022/23 winter season. From the additional flight capacity and extended schedule to the homeporting of two of their largest cruise ships, and new hotel partners, this sheer size of this expansion underpins TUI UK’s confidence in Barbados,” Minister Cummins said.

TUI previously chartered seven flights per week to Barbados, but that has now increased to eight weekly flights to cater to growing demand.

Six of these weekly charter flights will depart from Birmingham, London Gatwick, and Manchester airports, as well as two ‘Rover’ flights which will depart from various UK airports weekly. The extra flight boosts capacity above TUI UK’s previous full winter season, bringing total capacity to nearly 54 000 seats for winter 2022/23.

“TUI has not only increased their presence in Barbados from one to two cruise ships but two of their largest cruise ships at that,  Marella Explorer 2 and Marella Discovery. And what’s special is that this is not an air-to-sea charter, but has evolved to incorporate a dedicated land-based programme for Barbados,” Cummins said.

For the first time, both ships will homeport in Barbados and will operate a total of 40 sailing rotations until April 2023, adding a month of additional cruising to the previous season, which ended in March.

The Marella Explorer 2, with a capacity of 1,850 passengers, will operate weekly on Sundays, from November 20, 2022, to April 16, 2023. The Marella Discovery will operate weekly on Thursdays from December 22, 2022 to April 20, 2023, with a capacity of 1,800 passengers.

TUI UK has also increased the number of hotel partners in Barbados, now supporting the majority of Barbados A-class and B-class hotels. This will cater to the approximately 30 per cent of their customers who will book their entire holiday in Barbados and those booking pre- and post-cruise.

Director of UK and Ireland for Barbados Tourism Marketing Inc., Cheryl Carter, welcomed the announcement.

“We are thrilled that this relationship which began in 2011 continues to flourish, and we hope to continue to build on this by developing further opportunities in the future. We look forward to welcoming even more UK and Irish holidaymakers to our island through TUI UK,” she said.

Carter added that since the inception of the programme with TUI UK, Barbados has seen 189 per cent growth in cruise passengers over the past 11 years.

The programme started in winter 2011/2012 with only one vessel and has now grown to incorporate a number of hotels, and offer extensive pre and post-cruise destination experiences in Barbados.

Cruise goers can discover the best of the Caribbean with a choice of six TUI Cruise itineraries that start and finish in Bridgetown.(BT/PR)