Sewage issues remain a concern
THE Barbados Hotel and Tourism Association (BHTA) remains concerned about the South Coast Sewage issue as it continues to impact its members and CEO of the BHTA, Rudy Grant, has reiterated the call for someone senior in Government to take the lead on this issue.
While speaking to The Barbados Advocate at the Taste of the Caribbean Training Gourmet Lunch at Bajan Breeze, Divi Southwinds, he indicated, “We have continually made the call for someone very senior in Government to take the lead in this matter. We believe that is important because there are a number of entities, state agencies involved and we think that it is important that someone at a senior level in Government is able to guide that process and ensure that they are in a position to effectively deal with the challenges that exist with the sewage issue in the South Coast.”
Grant highlighted, “The BHTA has spoken privately and publicly on this particular issue; of course it is a matter that concerns us greatly as it is impacting on our members. I did indicate at the First Quarterly meeting that there were some of our members that have experienced losses in business; there are some that had to close recently such as Stream Restaurant. We are continuing our dialogue with the Barbados Water Authority (BWA), we recognise that this is a national issue. We will continue our dialogue with the BWA and we will continue to collaborate with the relevant entities ensuring that we work along with our members to ensure that the image of Barbados is one that is positive.”
The CEO commented that after elections, “We will continue to play our role and our part with our partners – the Ministry of Tourism, the Grantley Adams International Airport, BTMI and BTPA. This industry plays an important and critical economic role. We will continue to facilitate the marketing of Barbados as a destination, we will continue to ensure we do our part with respect to the development of different product offerings and we will continue to work with our partners and members to continue to develop the Barbados tourism in-dustry.” (NB)