Arrivals check

JUST over 52 per cent of visitors who came to Barbados between January and February this year stayed at properties which are members of the Barbados Hotel and Tourism Association (BHTA). That’s according to BHTA’s Chairman, Roseanne Myers. She said that the numbers do not account for visitors staying at Villas, even though they are under management companies which are part of the association.

Myers told a recent news conference that what they in the BHTA are watching is the trend which indicated that more people are vacationing in properties not connected to the BHTA.

She said that what is necessary right now is to get behind the numbers, since unfortunately they are unable to pick up tourism statistics to do an analysis on any Government website. “And that is something that we have to bring attention to – transparency in terms of these numbers,” she said.

“You cannot run an industry and not know some of the basics, so we have to take our hats off to the Barbados Tourism and Marketing Incorporated (BTMI) who did their own in-house and they have shared some of the numbers with us,” said the BHTA Chairman.

“But we know for sure that 52.8 per cent of the visitors stayed in BHTA registered properties,” she reiterated.

CEO, Rudy Grant, said that while there are in excess of 300 members in the BHTA, some of them offer direct tourism services. However, about 80 of those numbers are hotels, Myers said.

However, questioned as to whether that 52.8 per cent is a worry for the BHTA, given the figure was higher, Myers said that issue becomes which segment is growing faster. “The issue is that if you are not growing your traditional plant at a fast rate, you have the untraditional sector growing faster, that doesn’t mean it is a bad or good thing,” she remarked. Myers stated that if someone is able to advertise their home on a website and then take in visitors, that section of the accommodation is actually growing faster than the traditional one, she explained.

The BHTA official noted that it is not difficult to understand why the untraditional sector is growing faster. According to her, not many new hotels have been built in Barbados, and the ones that were on the cards have been delayed for at two years.

“But we do know that it takes a judicious mix of all (properties) to run an industry, but we need to make sure that we run it with a degree of standard to ensure everyone is safe,” she pointed out. (JB)