PM PRAISES BTPA
Whilst lauding the work of the Barbados Tourism Product Authority (BTPA) for its role in boosting the tourism sector, Prime Minister of Barbados, The Rt. Hon. Freundel Stuart has acknowledged the need for staff expansion at the BTPA to enhance its work.
The Prime Minister’s high praise of the organisation came yesterday as he spoke in the House of Assembly, where he stressed that government acted wisely back in 2014 when it separated the marketing arm of tourism from the product arm, as the results of such a strategic move are now being seen.
“Under the Barbados Tourism Authority Act, both marketing and product were welded together and of course, historically, the more glamorous part of that marriage has been the marketing arm of tourism. That’s the part that the public has seen over the years. But the truth is, you can only market if you have a product and if the contents of that product are very, very clear,” Prime Minister Stuart remarked.
“And three years after the creation of the Barbados Tourism Product Authority, the government is satisfied that that Product Authority has made a significant contribution to the clarification of what it is that Barbados is actually marketing as part of its tourism exercise. And I therefore want to pay tribute to the CEO of the Barbados Tourism Product Authority (Dr. Kerry Hall) and her staff – a very small staff. In fact, I think that given the work being taken on now by the Barbados Tourism Product Authority, that there will have to be some staff adjustments by way of increase, because product is very important to the marketing effort,” Stuart added.
“Product promotion cannot continue to be – as it seemed to be in the past and for many, many years – to be the Cinderella in that relationship. Product promotion, product creation has an important role to play in the kind of tourism sector that we have,” the PM further commented.
Re-emphasising that the Product Authority has been doing “a wonderful job ever since its creation”, the Prime Minister also lauded Minister of Tourism and International Transport, Richard Sealy, for advancing the vision to have a separation between the marketing arm and the product arm of tourism.
“I know the case was very strongly put at the time when we discussed it. Not everybody was convinced that we absolutely needed to effect so sharp a separation between marketing and product, but the Minister of Tourism to his credit, fought for this state of affairs and I have to confess that three years later the benefits are there for all to see. And I know that there is much more work that the Barbados Tourism Product Authority wants to do, but it is at present hamstrung, as I have been advised by people in the Authority itself, by the fact that they need a few more hands to help them in their efforts,” Stuart indicated.
He meanwhile noted that since the tourism product is affected by what happens in other Ministries, for example, the Ministry of the Environment, the Ministry of Transport and Works and in the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Youth, there are some cross-cutting issues that have to be dealt, and that are receiving the attention of government, so that the Product Authority can reach its fullest potential. (RSM)