Tourism week launched earlier than usual this year

“This year we are seeking to make Tourism Week as inclusive as possible and to create an industry that is of, for and by the people,” so says Dr. Kerry Hall, CEO of the Barbados Tourism Product Authority (BTPA).

 

At the launch of Tourism week yesterday at Lloyd Erskine Sandiford Complex Dr. Hall stressed the importance that all Barbadians take ownership of Barbadian treasures, having a more accessible Barbados and cleanliness which is for Barbadians first and foremost that we can pass on a pristine Barbados to future generations.

 

Tourism week will run from the 24-30 September 2016 under the theme “Tourism for All- Promoting Universal Accessibility” instead of in December. According to her, “Tourism week is extremely important to the agencies which have oversight over the industry because it gives us the opportunity to raise awareness about the initiatives we are hosting to make Barbados competitive. It also gives us an opportunity to put the spotlight on those within the industry, to be able to celebrate their hard work and dedication. Barbadians generally know that tourism is there but we don’t think that the level of engagement is at the level that it needs to be…”

 

She continued, “We are going with the UN WTO theme for World Tourism Day – Tourism for All, Promoting Universal Accessibility. It is one of the most lucrative segments. We have Fully Accessible Barbados, and we will be looking at the whole issue of disabled travelers and asking if we are ready for them as travellers. We have been doing this for 11 years, and Barbados is not only the trailblazer but Barbados is seen as the role model and benchmark in this area in the region.

 

“We are trying something new having tourism week fall in conjunction with World Tourism Day that falls in this month.  This is nothing new, other islands in the Caribbean notably Jamaica have done this, we decided that we will try to make the week more relevant by encapsulating Tourism Day within Tourism week and we think it will work very well for us. Coupled with the fact that when we had Tourism week before in December, it is the beginning of the winter season and is a busy time, thus we figured let’s try to have this week in September which is normally a slower time for Barbados and that we can get our tourism workers to be more involved. I believe in the foreseeable future it will be in September in line with World Tourism Day.”

 

Dr. Hall promises the week to be an engaging week of activities. Tourism Week will start with a burst of excitement in the north, with ‘Speightstown Sizzling’.  Another event will we the ‘Clean Bim” Beach Clean Up which is a national project dedicated to keeping Barbados clean and pristine to the benefit of Barbadians and visitors for generations to come. The BTPA, BTMI and other partners will be conducting a clean-up of the Carlisle Bay area, as a sign of our commitment to keeping Barbados clean for our 50th anniversary of independence and for always.  The week is also filled with many other events.

 

Minister of Tourism and International Transport, Richard Sealy also endorsed the change of the week and highlighted the importance of celebrating those who work within the industry. 

 

“This tourism week has many firsts, we are shifting the week to coincide with World Tourism Day, something that is usually made in to a major event in most tourism destinations throughout the world, we have tended to reduce it to just a statement in the newspaper, not this year. We normally have tourism week in December but having it in September more persons can be a part of the events …The problems with tourism week is that it was the first week in December which is a busy period but the workers event will remain at the commencement of the winter season, and having it as a stand-alone is a good development …” (NB)