BAS head hopeful for tourism spin-offs

WITH Government looking at various measures to rebrand and reboot the tourism industry in this country, there is a hope that efforts will be made to ensure that the agricultural sector has an even greater stake in the tourism industry.

So says Chief Executive Officer of the Barbados Agricultural Society (BAS), James Paul. His comments came in a recent interview with The Barbados Advocate, as he reflected on the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on the country’s economy and the decision to reopen the country to commercial flights and thereby tourists. His comments came as he said that agricultural stakeholders have had a lot of produce on their hand as a result of the downturn in tourism and while Barbadians have continued to support the farmers over the last few months, they are looking forward to tourism bounding back, even though in a measured way.

“I believe if the Government is serious about stimulating local agricultural production and about trying to ensure that any benefits to be derived from tourism must have some type of multiplying effect on the economy, then the two must work together. For tourism to truly serve its purpose, it must have a multiplier effect; tourism cannot stand alone in this economy,” he stated.

Paul went on to say that it makes no sense having a tourism industry if the only persons benefiting from it are the people who are directly affiliated with the sector. The BAS head is adamant that there must be spin-off benefits for other sectors in the economy, as it relates to tourism. As such, he is calling on the hospitality sector not to engage in any actions that would undermine the agricultural sector, and he is also urging the Government, wherever pos-sible, to assist the sector as much as it can.

“The tourism sector must be the principal market for locally produced agricultural products. Even in the area of health tourism for instance, with the COVID-19 pandemic, it represents an opportunity for us to show that our foods are safe and to market it as something that we in the agricultural sector have been able to achieve. It shows we have good biosafety controls in terms of the farms and that the hygiene and sanitary practices on the farms are good and therefore tourism stakeholders would have no reason not to purchase locally produced agricultural products,” he stated.

His comments came as he lamented that more locally produced agricultural products should “occupy centre stage” on the menus of hotels and restaurants in this country for the visitors to enjoy. He added that now is the time for such establishments to take the necessary steps to put indigenous foods at the hotels for breakfast, lunch and dinner.

Paul went further as he said that agriculture has the opportunity to be a significant revenue earner and foreign

exchange saver for Barbados. His remarks came as he said that COVID-19 has highlighted the need to push agricultural production to not only ensure food security, but revenue generation. (JRT)