BUSINESS MONDAY: Harrison’s Cave aiming to boost visitor numbers with added attractions

New and enhanced offerings of the Harrison’s Cave Eco-Adventure Park are aimed at increasing visitation by at least 30 per cent.

Chief Executive Officer of Chukka Caribbean Adventures, Marc Melville, told the media the park – which was scheduled to have several attractions added by year end – will see more locals and visitors heading to its doors due to its family friendly all-day fun nature.

“What we plan to do is increase the visitation to the park, not necessarily the visitation to the cave. Let’s just say you are at 100 people per day. Ideally, we would love to increase this by 30 per cent in the coming months and years and even further than that,” he said during a recent press conference at the Courtyard Marriott.

Pointing to what was being experienced in Chukka’s other operations in Belize, Dominican Republic, Jamaica and the Turks and Caicos, Melville further based these expectations on Barbados and the rest of the region’s tourism industry picking up “dramatically” as travel restrictions ease.

“The spend per passenger on our sites has doubled and has in some cases gone up by three times. That means people have money in their pockets or they are itching to spend it, so that makes us feel good. Component two, the spend per packs on tourist purchase has also gone up materially, which means that people are not coming looking for deals, so to speak. People are here looking for value and we are experiencing this every single day,” he said.

Amongst other things, the new park will feature upgrades to the tune of $9 million including: a dry slide, a free-fall platform, a zip line, suspended bridge, challenge course, infinity pool, nature trails, a tasting bar and restaurants.

“With this activity profile, we are going to achieve what it is that we set out to do, which was enhance Harrison’s Cave to a place where people who have been before want to come back, and people who don’t just want to experience the cave can spend the day and enjoy it,” Melville stated.