Popular sights see holiday surge, ‘best numbers in decade’

by Lourianne Graham

Popular attractions across Barbados are experiencing a significant uptick in visitors this holiday season, with at least one reporting its best numbers in a decade.

As the winter tourist season kicks into high gear, both the historic Animal Flower Cave in St Lucy and St Joseph’s Andromeda Gardens are seeing increased foot traffic and tour bookings.

Manuel Ward, owner and manager of Animal Flower Cave, the island’s oldest natural attraction, noted a slight increase in visitors this year compared to last year. He told Barbados TODAY that while their highest numbers were two years ago, he hoped this year’s numbers would surpass them.

Giving an early update on visitor trends for the winter season, Ward said: “So far yesterday we were up by, compared to the year before, we’re up by, about 10 people more yesterday (Thursday) than we did the same day last year, so that’s a good sign. I’m looking out today hopefully to do even better, and normally between now and the 5th of January is the busiest time that we will have for the season.”

Ward also gave this insight into the numbers for lunch covers at the attraction’s restaurant: “Before Christmas, I will be doing maybe 100 covers and lunch. Yesterday (Thursday) we did 210 covers at lunch, so that shows you the jump, right? And

I’m hoping today that I can do about because last year on the 27th, which is a year ago today, I did 327 for lunch. So I’m hoping today will be another 320 or in that area.”

The Animal Flower Cave offers both tours and dining, with visitors combining the two experiences or opting for one.

Ward said: “Some people go to the cave and then come and have lunch. Some people come and have lunch and then go to the cave. Some people come into the cave and don’t come to lunch. Some people come and have lunch and don’t go to the cave, you can’t say that there are always people that go in the cave who will come for lunch. Sometimes you might have a lot of people that come into the restaurant and don’t go in the cave.”

After January 5, Ward expects a drop in visitor numbers as many tourists return to their home countries.
He also noted that most weekday visitors are tourists, while weekends see a mix of locals and tourists, with a spike during the holiday period.

He said: “We’re hoping that everything will go good until Easter, which is again a very peak period. Two weeks of the Easter holidays, we also have Errol Barrow Day where we have the sail around the island, the Mount Gay ‘round-the-island sail, so we got a lot of locals that come up and sit on the tables and have lunch and watch the yachts go by.”

The flower cave’s owner revealed that the attraction will be participating in We Gatherin’ next year with a market day.

“I’ve already been contacted by the ministry about doing something a market day up here where people would come and set up stalls and stuff like that,” Ward said. “I’m looking forward to it and I think it should be a success.”

On the island’s southeast coast, Sharon Cooke, manager of Andromeda Gardens, reported this has been the botanical garden’s best year in a decade.

“November was our best November in 10 years. So this December is looking like our best December as well. I mean, I won’t know until, four days, but so far, so good,” Cooke told Barbados TODAY after a tour group of over 20 people went through.

She shared that visits and tours have increased by at least 15 per cent.

Cooke said: “I’m really happy with how the season has started, and ecstatic because it follows a very bad slow season. It’s really interesting because the slow season was our slowest in 10 years, but the first three months of this year, which is the previous season, were excellent. So January, February [and] March were our best three months.

“I always hope that we just get more tours because it’s such a great garden.”
She also expressed the hope that new additions to the garden will attract more visitors: “We’ve got all these new areas, so not only Rochelle’s Garden is new this year, but there’s a place called The Ground, which is all about celebrating the plants that were used medicinally by the enslaved. There’s also an infinity deck, and that’s all about our natural heritage. It’s all about plants that the wildlife love. So that’s, that’s a huge circular deck.”

She added: “We’ve got three new areas and they’re all amazing and we’re hoping the feedback from visitors who have been before, they can’t believe it. They’re so impressed. So I’m hoping that the work that we’ve done will increase visitor numbers, more people will hear about it, more people will come and more of our industry partners will give us some support. That’s what I’m hoping.”

louriannegraham@barbadostoday.bb