TDC struggling with 70 per cent budget reduction, launches fundraising

The Tourism Development Corporation (TDC) has seen its operating budget plummet by 70 per cent since 2010, forcing the organisation to launch an innovative “Make Change” fundraising campaign to restore its ability to support crucial tourism infrastructure and heritage projects across the island, its chairman said on Wednesday.

The TDC, a not-for-profit organisation supporting the tourism industry through private sector funding, focuses on diverse projects, such as museums, heritage sites, and infrastructure improvements to ensure their long-term sustainability.

TDC Chairman Mark Thompson revealed the agency’s plight at the corporation’s 37th annual general meeting at the Savannah Beach Hotel in Hastings.

Thompson explained that funding has been affected by economic downturns and the COVID-19 shutdowns, dropping from $1 million before 2010, reducing its current annual budget to $300 000.

“Pre-2010 I would say we were operating with about a million dollars a year. That’s a little less than when we started out with. We were doing a pretty good job covering everything we needed to do, after the removal of the 150 per cent tax rebate, we dropped pretty precipitously to $600 000 roughly.”

He stated the importance of funding to TDC’s relevance: “In order to remain relevant, we must have the funding right. The funding is absolutely important.”

The TDC Chairman added: “We really can’t operate under those circumstances and make a real, meaningful impact. So we’ve got to think about ways, how we are going to do that.”

Thompson further explained that TDC is a supporting organisation to tourism organisations: “We don’t take the lead on marketing Barbados, that’s the BTMI’s position. And then you have the hotel and tourism association. So we are basically a conduit where private sector entities can funnel money through us in order to help Barbados in general, in terms of the growth of this tourism sector.”

He stressed that to continue having a significant effect, TDC must return to an annual budget of at least $650 000, with an ideal target of $1m.

“We are not immune to the economic times,” he said. “You know, we had some bad economic times, so definitely, we are dependent on funding from our members. If our members are affected, then we are affected. So we’re now looking at ways where we can raise funds separate and distinct from our members to have to continue to have the same impact, or in fact, have a real impact.”

Key stakeholders at Wednesday’s TDC AGM. (LG)

In June, the TDC will launch the ‘Make Change’ campaign to raise funds to support it, “essentially a round-up at the cashier”, said Thompson, who declined to give further details pending an official launch and advertising. The funds raised will go directly towards national projects, he said.

He added: “I think what one point I want to make clear [is] that TDC is a not-for-profit organisation. It’s a philanthropic private sector organisation. We are not in it for profit in any way, shape or form. We’re here to help Barbados. That’s the original mandate of TDC from the very beginning. And we, of course, the world changes, so we have to change how we do things.”

The first beneficiary of the Make Change campaign will be the Graeme Hall Nature Sanctuary project, which Thompson described as “a fairly significant national treasure” and “a critical component…like a national park”.

“We are looking to make 650 [thousand] in the first year, but we are not necessarily going to run the Graeme Hall project for the entire year. So let me just clarify that all of those funds wouldn’t necessarily go to Graeme Hall, but it would go a part to Graeme Hall and then any other project that we come up with within the next year.”

Over the years, the corporation has funded diverse projects, including heritage initiatives such as the Newton Burial Ground signage, the upgrade of Gun Hill Signal Station in collaboration with the Barbados National Trust, and the beautification of the island’s highways with palm trees. It has also backed sports tourism initiatives, including the Open Water Swim Festival, and continues to support the Barbados Trailway project—a two-kilometre stretch for cycling, running, and walking along the route of the 1881-1937 Barbados Government Railway. (LG)