Chairman of the Board of Directors of Barbados Tourism Marketing Inc. (BTMI), Alvin Jemmott (left), engages the attention of the CEO of the BTMI, William Griffith, at the end of the Opening Session of Connect Barbados 2018, held at the Hilton Hotel yesterday.
RECORD arrivals
THE year 2017 proved to be a record one for cruise tourism arrivals in Barbados, in spite of two major hurricanes which passed through the neighbouring islands.
This is according to the Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of the Barbados Tourism Marketing Inc. (BTMI), William Griffith, who delivered remarks at the Opening Session of Connect Barbados 2018, which was held at the Hilton Hotel Barbados yesterday.
“The cruise sector continues to show its enormous potential for contributing significantly to the local economy. The island recently celebrated a record year of arrivals in spite of the passage of two hurricanes which severely impacted a number of leading cruise ports in the region. By the end of 2017, 506 cruise ships called at the Bridgetown Port – an increase of 19.3%. They arrived with a record 822 275 cruise visitors to effect a significant increase of 12.7% when compared to the 729 645 arriving in 2016 on board 424 ships. For 2018, the Port’s projections are approximately 810 000 cruise arrivals,” Griffith stated.
He noted that these increases are due, in large part, to the efforts of the newly appointed Cruise Director, Cheryl Franklin, who took up the position a little more than a year ago.
Added to these figures, there was also an increase in the number of cruise ship passengers who viewed Barbados as a favourable home port destination, with 141 064 of them choosing to start and end their cruise ship experience in this country.
An increase in the airlift coming out of the major tourism source markets of the United Kingdom, the United States of America and Canada also helped to contribute towards this growth, said Griffith.
In fact, such was the success in this area that the BTMI would be looking at enhancing their efforts at promoting Barbados as an ideal homeporting destination to these and other tourism source markets, said the CEO of the BTMI.
“A growing strategic focus of the destination will be the further development of the homeporting segment to maximise on opportunities to extend economic impact through the expansion of the pre and post vacation sub segment.”