Invest in local talent

Invest in this country’s natural talent as this could be the gateway to the development of other sectors such as tourism and culture.

This was one of the key messages that the Minister of Culture, Sports and Youth, Stephen Lashley, gave to local and international delegates from the tourism and communications sectors who were in attendance at the public relations session of the Tourism Management Conference yesterday at Sandals Barbados.

He stated that if this country fails to invest in local talent, then there would be nothing to attract visitors as nowadays tourists are looking for more than the sun, sea and sand experience. “Of course we also need to utilize these very rich cultural products in the advancement of enhancing tourism and the potential of the development of tourism.…I think that you would agree with me that unless we invest in the preservation and protection of our cultural goods and services, then of course we have nothing to promote,” he said.

The Minister of Culture stated that in order to do this, stakeholders in these sectors must first identify the best in natural, indigenous talent and then form partnerships with the tourism sector. “These [natural talents] are very key in terms of how we can create that synergy and that connection in that what we produce in Barbados in terms of our cultural offerings is indigenous, must be unique and certainly must be marketable.”

He continued: “But in all of this we must be prepared, not only Government, [but] hoteliers and of course our cultural practitioners as well, we must be prepared to invest in our country’s natural talent. We speak of course of the highlight of that talent in recent times, which is Rihanna ...But the reality of course is that as a very small country, Barbados has so much undeveloped, raw, natural talent to the extent that I believe that we perhaps have many more Rihannas in Barbados than we actually know.”

Lashley added that if this is going to be achieved, then we must provide opportunities for these artists to showcase their talents to the rest of the world.
“The question is what are we doing about the development of this natural talent? How is that talent being developed to the benefit of Barbados and to the extent of course, that attractable of Barbados as a tourism destination? Of course we need to expose our talent to enable it to grow and develop. Each of these aspects entails sound and consistent consideration for investment.”