Tourism on the up – Minister Cummins

Barbados’ tourism industry is on track to rebound from the crippling impact of the COVID-19 pandemic.

Based on a presentation made on Monday by Minister of Tourism and International Transport Senator Lisa Cummins, who is part of a five-member Barbadian delegation attending the Caribbean Tourism Organisation and International Air Transport Association conference in Grand Cayman, the road to recovery is looking very promising.

“For the first time in many months, hotels are full, restaurants are full, attractions are full and taxis are busy. Barbados is open for business and the world knows it,” she said.

She reported that from January to August this year, Barbados saw 253 966 arrivals, which she described as an impressive increase when compared to 2021.

Of those visitors, 77 926 were from the United States; 27 152 from Canada; 106 351 from the United Kingdom; 9 116 from Europe; 28 048 from the Caribbean; 2 602 from Central and South America; and 2 771 from other areas.

Cummins noted that Barbados was the only English-speaking Caribbean Island to have a direct flight from Amsterdam via KLM Royal Dutch Airlines which is restarting the service to Bridgetown on October 18 with three weekly flights on Tuesdays, Thursdays, and Sundays.

“This flight gives the winter tourist season a major boost as KLM currently operates out of 90 cities in Europe. Additionally, this places Barbados as a reachable hub for our European visitors,” she said.

The Tourism Minister also reminded that the United Kingdom’s top travel company TUI would be increasing its flight capacity for the November 2022 to April 2023 winter period.

TUI previously chartered seven flights per week to Barbados but that will increase to eight and boost TUI’s capacity to close to 54 000 seats for winter, she said.

Reporting that Crop Over 2022 was a success, Senator Cummins said the rest of this year will be full of activities that would attract even more visitors to the island.

She said thousands of people locally and from abroad were looking forward to the Fintech Island Experience 2022 – which would see attendees engaging in sessions about financial inclusion, embedded finance, cryptocurrencies, and decentralised finance – to be held at the Hilton Barbados Resort in October.

The Tourism Minister added that the annual Barbados Jazz Excursion and Golf Weekend, the much anticipated Barbados Food and Rum Festival, and the return of Run Barbados will also attract scores of regional and international visitors.

(sheriabrathwaite@barbadostoday.bb)