Barbados Hotels Were Supposed To Be So Full That The Government Hired Cruise Ships To Handle The Overflow!
Oh Oh!
The president of the Barbados Hotel and Tourism Association has revealed that Barbados hotel bookings are DOWN when compared to last year. Alvin Jemmott told The Nation News that current hotel bookings are mid-60 percent, compared with the national yearly average of 69 percent.
So let me get this straight…
Without the Cricket World Cup, hotel bookings usually run at 69% capacity – like they did last year, but with the CWC hotel bookings are running 65% or so…
We are spending a gazillion* dollars to host Cricket World Cup – not to mention US$15 million to hire a cruise ship for the “hotel overflow” – and hotel occupancy is DOWN 5% from a regular year?
That isn’t “disappointing” or “falling short”…
That is a disaster.
Hear that swishing in the air? It is the sound a falling sandbag that is going to smack Bajan taxpayers right in the head (and wallet) the day after the stadium empties for the final time.
* Gazillion
The figure of a “gazillion” dollars as the cost of hosting Cricket World Cup is as accurate as any costing figures released by government. Guaranteed!
From The Nation News…
Hotel Bookings Fall Short
BARBADOS still has available rooms for Cricket World Cup (CWC) 2007.
With the official opening of CWC 2007 set for this evening in Jamaica, hotel bookings for Barbados are still below expectation.
This according to Barbados Hotel and Tourism Association (BHTA) president Alvin Jemmott, who said: “We were hoping for better accommodation [numbers] and they have not materialised.”
In fact, he pointed out during a recent interview with the SUNDAY SUN that bookings were slower than anticipated, and even slower than last year.
Jemmott noted that local hotel bookings were mid-60 per cent, compared with the 80 per cent officials were hoping for.
This also compares with the national yearly average for hotel bookings in Barbados, which stand at 69 per cent.
He cited two reasons for the shortfall, the first being the way games were scheduled…
… continue reading about this disaster at The Nation News (link here)
Barbados Free Press 
As i said in a previous post…i cant wait for the “IMF” to step in and “OWN” us….. we are already a country in debt…now foolishly gone and put CWC before everything else including the people of this island,now it won’t come off as expected and we end up in the ringer…for years…thanks Owen..remember us when you have long gone from these shores ok…make way for the “IMF” you third class scoundrels(in an american voice)
Hotel bookings are down, but the Ministry of Tourism and Barbados Tourism Authority is still borrowing US$15 million (plus interest and arragements fees) to subsidise chartering Carnival Destiny?
Corporation Corporation which is the world’s most profitable tourism entity employs mostly (95%) EXTRA regional crew and sources most of it consumables outside the Caribbean.
Up to 40% (2,800) EMPTY rooms while the taxpayer pays a foreign company BDS$30 million
to disadvantage its own accommodation sector!
Its a scandal and the normally vocal Minister of Tourism has to explain.
I notice it was the lead story on 7.30am edition of StarComNetwork news.
M. Loveridge I agree with you. When I heard that the Arthur Govenment had leased a cruise ship I thought that all the hotels were full. Now the truth is revealed that they are only 60% occupied. When OH when will this government get it’s act together. I wonder how much in real terms that ship is going to cost the Bajan tax payer. I mean the real cost, bot one thought up by the Government
If the President of the BHTA is right and currently hotel occupancy is in the mid 60’s per cent against an antiticipated level of 80 per cent, how does this relate to lost earnings to to country.
Based on a total room stock of 7,000 rooms, a 15% reduction would equate to 1,050 rooms over a possible 49 day period.
Allowing for an average spend of US$150 per day (two persons per room) that means a loss in revenue to the country of US$15.43 million.
Add the US$15 million sudsidy to Carnival Corporation and thats over US$30 million in losses directly off the bottom line.
The reason for the reduced occupancy is very simple, CWC was hyped up to be this super great thing during MARCH and APRIL, so the people who ususlly come here in March stayed away like “if we had the plague”. Obviously nothing much is happening in March. April will obviously bring higher occupancy and the “powers that be ” will shout from the rooftops like they did something wonderful. Pity the people who built on to their homes or altered to make this “big money.”
This is turning out to be a disaster of mammoth proportions this is exactly what Mr. Loveridge has been preaching for the past weeks and it is now coming to pass.
In most other civilised societies under the Westminster system the minister of Tourism would have done the decent thing and that would be to have stepped down from his post but why should we expectLynch to be honorable and do something like this after all we are living in Barbados and not in Britain why expect this of him when his examples around him by his leader and PM is one of wholesale stealing and corruption.
I am absolutely dumdfounded as to why we are paying the Carnival Cruise lines in excess of
US $ 15 mill for supplying accomodation when we will be having 40 % of our hotels rooms empty furthermore if this ship is servicing both of the islans of Barbados and St.Lucia why then is St.Lucia not picking up half of these cost as they stand to benefit from this ship in their waters as well, maybe they are a couple steps ahead of us in thinking( Lynch pay attention less long talk and more thought from you would go a long way clown) and they have worked out that they never needed the Destiny in the first place to achieve their hotel needs.
Once again the Gov’t screws up and we are paying it is not their money that they are spending so why should they care after all it is only US $ 15 mill not like the $ 100 mill that Owen, Nicholls and Bannisters have stole from us the taxpayers in the excess on the Jail project. Remember the local quote that was turned down because they would not build in a faciliators fee for the three of these crooks.
My compliments to Mr Loveridge for having the foresight to bring this fiasco to the eyes of the BFP (as he was not likely to get a hearing anywhere in the conventional press) before it developed we need more civic minded people like him to get this country back on track.
We are now laboured with a Gov’t that is corrupt and is marking time and ministers who are grabbing the last pieces of goodwill and charity before departing office lord help us in the coming weeks deals will be made and completed in a hurry.
The comments below were copied from the Trinidad Express on – line news paper. It is someone’s impression about the opening ceremony for CWC 2007.
—————————————————————–
Poor show of West Indian Culture Posted: 2007-03-12 08:42:00 AM
I was most disappointed with the opening ceremony on the Cricket World Cup. Here was the opportunity to showcase our vibrant and rich Caribbean culture and we simply missed the boat. I thought that I was watching ‘Sumfest’ the annual Reggae concert held in Jamaica. There were just too many reggae/danchehall acts, to the point where the significance of Bob Marley’s tribute was lost on the audience. I have yet to decipher a theme from the event and I must assume that there was none. The show lacked cohesiveness and came off as a hodge podge of artistes strung together to perform. I mean very few of the performances even related to cricket, which is so sad when you have the Prime Minister of Grenada in his openeing saying that cricket “is more than a game” to West Indians. What of all the calypsoes sung about cricket over the years? Not even a steel pan orchestra? I mean this is the only musical invention in the 21st century for heaven’s sake! Even the setting of the stage at the far end of the field was poor, there seemed to be little interaction with the audience and the performers as a result of the distance. The lighting and stage backdrop were drab and insufficient and some segments of the show were ill-timed to say the least. I mean if you are going to display Carnival costumes, wouldn’t have made sense to do that in the earlier paart of the show when there was sunlight? There were so many faux pas last evening, suffice it to say that the show can be summed up by the name of one of the bands performing there- “Third World” (no offence to the band)
>In most other civilised societies under the Westminster system the minister of Tourism would have done the decent thing and that would be to have stepped down from his post but why should we expect Lynch to be honorable and do something like this
hehehehehehehe
Failing him stepping down he should have been fired already this is indicative of Owing’s willingness to accept slackness throughout his cabinet just realise that he has accepted to allow to stay the following -: Mottley and her disaster as a minister just look at her troubles regarding the CWC Visas and police fustrations with CWC,Walcott and his lack of action regarding the QEH and his bull headed actions, Clarke who is living on Gov’t lands, Eastmond both of them for collecting a sarlary and not putting in a days work, Payne who has said and done nothing in years, Lynch more hot air than action. Liz Thompson for wasting taxpayers money on Greenland despite all the advice that differs to her views she is still pressing ahead, does she have connections in the building and land moving services? Farley who has moved from one ministry to the other without a success story in any ministry.
Do we fire these ministers or we should go to the top of the stream and fire the PM and the DPM? This may make more sense and in doing so we will control the wholesale stealing that is going on now in this island.
Now that the hotel bookings are down we can probably analyse the following:
1. When persons asked about the possibility of being able to accomodate the thousands expected to be here for CWC 2007 – it was reported that some hoteliers claim they were going to accomodate their ” repeat ” visitors first.
Could it be that given this approach, some hoteliers now find themselves in a quandary since their ” repeat ” visitors will LIKELY need the Caricom Visas to be in the region around the time of CWC 2007 ?
So in essence why would a visitor frequenting the Caribbean in previous years unhindered by Visas requirements – now CHOOSE to do so now that there is an additional FEE of US $ 100.00 per person ( Caricom Visa) ?
Possible fallout ? CANCELLATIONS / DISINTEREST !
Not only are our hoteliers feeling the squeeze over the broken promises of these BLP scamps. The news item in the link below also tells the tales of the vendors in this country.
Time to remove these BLP hoodlums from office !!
http://www.nationnews.com/story/315928861624068.php
Not only are our hoteliers feeling the squeeze
Wishing in vain,
I agree with you…
I really don’t understand what holds this party together except it has to do with money. This party should have imploded by now because ..Rawle Eastmond referred to his fellow Ministers as diabolical forces and was ostracised or self-exiled, Ronald Topin was side lined a long time ago, Rommel – not -much brain – Marshall was removed, Liz was fired and rehired, Mia the bitting diva demoted, Billie Millar was also demoted and given a job to ensure she was hardly on the island and far away from Owen, George Payne was fired and ostracised. …no wonder the BLP is a one man band…There is no one like the P.M…he is the only one whi can settle disputes with the Grand Old Duke of York…
maybe they’ll make all the money back with the inflated concession prices at the Oval.
And you know what will happen these clowns will vote for this evil corrupt Gov’t one more time and then suffer at an even higher level of stealing instead of a million here and there it will double that or may even triple that.
We will have a new bank called
THE BANK OF OWING
Rates will be high and the average person will not have a red cent at the end of the month, if they do the VAT will take care of that
what a fiasco when will the main stream media have some fortitude and expose these things. The masses need to know and understand that they are the ones who will ultimately pay for this bill Alibaba and his twenty two robbers continue to make out like bandits.
Mr, Loveridge is on the money as always and we need the general public to know and undestand that our government does not make sense with anything that it does and that squandermania still continues to be alive and well in Barbados.
the newspapers are probably being strung out on their government receivables ( read that to mean “not paid” or “stiffed” ) and can’t afford to exercise any independent journalistic integrity.
They get the majority of their money, directly or indirectly, through the benificence of the Minister of Finance. Sadly, kissing the ring in one form or another has become a Barbadian way of life. Mugabe has a cousin.
Did the official travel agents for CWC put holds on rooms? I ask this question because in checking hotel inventory within the past two months, most of the hotel inventory was listed as “sold out”.
Since we were not official agents for CWC, and only deal with the regular tourist trade, we did not expect much business booking cricket fans. However more than a few fans who had obtained tickets, but could not get hotels contacted our agency – and there were very few rooms showing any availability. How does “sold out” turn into plenty of rooms available at the last minute?
La De Da is correct in saying that many of the regular tourist who vacation stayed away and decided to go elsewhere because they assumed the island would be crowded with cricket fans, but there is more to this story than has been published.
Linda, says ,
” but there is more to this story than has been published.”
———————————————
Linda, you appear to know something more, can you share it with us ?
Following the link below, which was taken from cric.info this morning, the on- field mis haps are continuing during CWC 2007.
Added to this is the T&T falling sight-screen story, poor picthes there as well , now this story from JA on the eve of the first game.
Yes, we know ” what can go wrong will go wrong ” ( Murphy’s Law ). But this story from JA appears as though someone was ” sleeping on the job”
http://content-wi.cricinfo.com/wc2007/content/current/story/285021.html
Hi Linda
A friend of mine stays at the Rockley Resort every year in March she was told this year that they were sold our. They are going to Cuba and I hope they will return to Barbados
Having worked in the hotel industry in Barbados it was not uncommon for us to blocked out periods where we knew we were going to be full. However back then there was a cut off in the winter of 8 weeks then we would release the rooms back for sale. It seems that the Governement has hyped this CWC up so much that the Hoteliers went and blocked their rooms out, now they realise that the period is not going anywhere and have realeased them back on to the floor. They should have seen what was going on 2 months ago and then they would not have been do careless.
By the way as a final to this, my friend has now recieved a letter from Rockley Resort telling her that the room is open,bit late for that. Barbados needs to upgrade it’s systems and cut the DAMN PRICES
It seems Barbados should have looked at many other nations hosting events such as Olympic games. If they had, they would have seen that the host countries indeed lost huge amounts of money.
I think the powers that be know exactly that but this is more about people like Owing having bragging rights having hosted this event which will prove a failure for them economically the only success story is that it provides an avenue for Bostic to deliver funding in his election bid for the seat.
Why should they care it is not their money that they are spending its ours.
We are over $ 300 mill down in this adventure and still counting can you believe that this could be the case in Barbados and we have a hospital that is a disaster and they cannnot find $ 150 mill to replace it.
One thing I will tell you is that the day they decide to build a new hospital look out for how much the likes of Arthur, Bannister, Wilkinson and Nicholls will collect out of it, if they can make in excess of a $ 100 mill on the jail just think what they could do with the hospital contract.
In answer to Jerome’s question, the “more” is that the hotels appear to have blocked out space as “sold” for the World Cup event. Or possibly the official travel agencies also requested large group space – and payment was not forthcoming. At any rate, this all seems to have backfired – Patrick has already referred to this in his post.
It is a normal policy for hotels and large agencies to block out rooms and cabins on cruise ships for anticipated events, but an adequate time frame needs to be set to release the room or cabin inventory when confirmed bookings are not made.
From where I’m sitting my opionion is that BHTA, the government, CWC and official travel agencies have all bungled this world class event in one way or the other.
Travel agencies that specialize in vacation packages have literally been shut out in getting vacation travelers to the Caribbean during this “high season” time period – I’ve been sending vacationers to Hawaii, Thailand, the USVI, Puerto Rico and Mexico.
And travelers who book their own vacations online have found the dreaded “sold out” inventory throughout much of the Caribbean – I only know this because they have contacted numerous travel agencies to see if we could possibly find lodging.
BFP has been inquiring about this “hype” for sometime, and unfortunately it has come to pass. Adrian has also been right on point.
Thanks Linda, I get your point.
With all of this going on around us just before the finals of the CWC and our Hotel association making these revelations of our hotels having a lower occupancy rate than at this time last year one would have thought that the minister of Tourism Lynch would have come to the public and issued a statement to calm the expectations of the public and put his spin on matters, to date I have heard nothing from he nor the PM re these developments in our critical hotel sector, am I missing something here is this not what should be expected in a case such as this is?
Then again these folks are not working for us the taxpayers they are working for themselves in true sense of things so why expect them to respond to matters like this one.
I indeed feel very sad for those that jumped at the chance to fix up their homes to welcome vistors as they may not see one red cent coming their way from room revenue.
Well done Mia, Lynch, Owing etal you have been outstanding in your disaster creation and excution thereof take a bow.
Royal Zante Cruises was supposed to dock in St Kitts for CWC…they’re not bothering since there isn’t enough demand for accommodation…Story from Sunstkitts.com local news section.
I say fire The CEO and the Board of the BTA like yesterday. The elections will take care of the Minister!
69% will become 49% very quickly should England and or Australia be eliminated from CWC before the semi final round. Hoteliers in Barbados can brace for a flood of cancellations should either one of the big two go out early.
They put Williams in charge of the US and Canada, he is a long time Bee. I knew him when he worked at Sandy Lane, not one of the best Managers that place had. I am not saying he is bad, but not one of the better ones. He has little experience in sales as the hotel, when he was, there did their advertising from the head office in London. He used to go on trips as a ride along boy, just for show.
This Government needs to get qualified people to do the work in North America, as the other countries hire professional agencies to do the work for them
Patrick
Haven’t you realised?
Only die hard Bees get the plum jobs qualifications got nothing to do with it.
De bees and dey friends get the jobs and we the hard working taxed to the hilt citizens pay for they and their friends to enjoy the largesse.
Alvin Jemmott – President of the BHTA complaining that CWC didnot listen to themabout the agent they used.
Lynch should be kicked out for this possible fiasco.
His pimps and lackeys Richard Williams, Hudson Husbands, Denis Tull, Peter Odle and poodles running Tourist Board should be thrown out on their ears.
Of course we know this will not happen the red Mile and a Quarter Midget will come with his alcohol influenced face give some reason why things went sour and Bajans will believe his lies.
And the beat goes on.
lee, is it the beat goes on or the RUM….???!
If the average spend of a typical long stay visitor is US$150 per day, I would like someone to calculate the loss in foreign earnings caused by the reduced hotel occupancy levels leading up to ICC World Cup Cricket against a normal year.
The writing was on the wall months ago (Barmy Army etc) and no-one responded, apart from a last ditch attempt by the President of the BTA to go on a damage control trip to South Africa, UAE, India etc.
Remember Mia Motley, immortal words when she stated that ‘they’ (Caricom Security Committee) has convened an emergency meeting of the 10 Ministers of Tourism in Georgetown, Guyana last November to discuss the visa implementation and ‘only two Ministers turned-up’.
The President of the BHTA is now calling on hoteliers to look for last minute opportunities to fill their properties.
Last year I suggest establishing a self funding accommodation computer database where all unsold rooms could have been placed for people reluctant to purchase the overpriced packages
(US$630 per person just for ‘arrangement fee),
but did anybody listen?
Of course not!
Ultimately someone has to be responible for this disaster and the very least the normally vocal Minister of Tourism can do is address the industry and the taxpaying public.
If this Government still goes ahead with the US$15 million subsidy for chartering Carnival Destiny while a substantial number of rooms lie idle, then the 14,000 tourism workers know what to do in the next election.
Very well said Adrian I have been asking for the Minister to make a statement for sometime now without success he must be too busy dressing up to get arround to do the peoples business.
We are not doing to smartly on these bookings or this CWC at all, further to which I heard yesterday that hotels in the top end are showing first quarter losses and airline arrivals and cruise ship arrivals are down as well, where is Lynch when all of this is happening in the ministry he is supposed to be in charge of.
never. Lynch never issues statements when going gets tough.his big gloating mouth opens when he thinks arrivals make him look good or to take ‘payne ‘out of tourism.
sandy call him a windbag. never truer words said.
For sometime David Ellis and Denis Johnson has been trying to peruade Minister Noel Lynch to participate in a Down to Brass Tacks Sunday programme but he seems rather reticent.
Perhaps he might agree to appearing in the People’s Business where the public and industry players may question some the tourism stragegy?
Adrian I always find your comments interesting your heart is in the right place. However why won’t hoteliers listen to you. Perhaps it because of your constant bashing them and Indusrty officials. You have some great ideas but your means of delivery is sometimes too caustic. I undertand you are no longer a member of the BHTA is that not the ideal forum for pushing your ideas. Together everyone achieves more.
Appreciate your comments proudbajan…
What makes you think the hoteliers don’t listen to me and just remind me exactly when I bash them.
What I comment on is the tourism policies made and just how effective they are.
No problem if successful results are achieved but I feel obliged to comment if they are not.
I am sure Sue Springer could vouch how effective I was as a Director and Chairman of the Marketing Committee of the BHTA.
Do you really think no-one should be accountable for having our hotels at 60% occupancy at this time of the year while Government spends US$15 million to charter a cruise ship?
No! of course we should all remain silent, lie down, roll over and not upset the people that our destroying our number one industry.
Sounds like a plan!
Thank God for Adrian Loveridge! Were it not for your ‘caustic’ nature sir, Barbados would be forced to multiply the instances of corruption, malpractice, incompetence, nepotism and victimization which are already rampant at the BTA, the tourism ministry and the like by seventy times seven.
I can testify sir that daily at the Harbour Road and Sherbourne Conference Centre the powers of the tourism industry agonised over your likely response before they act.
We need more like you and less like them! Thank you sir!
proud bajan
I agree with your comment that sometimes it is not what you say but how you say it. I too have followed Adrian’s feedback with great interest over the years and he seems like someone who understands the business and I have always regretted that he has not been able to make a contribution in strategy formulation. I have herd some stories why this is the case Adrian. Perhaps someone in government can mediate so that the country benefits or is it a case of inflated egos?
Maybe if David or Dennis want to interview Barney they can set up their studio on one of the three golf courses in BIM.
BK…
I have already changed into my rather old plus fours.
What a great idea!
Just name the course and please give me an hour to get there through the traffic and potholes.
Thanks Bajan Proud #2.
Adrian Loveridge
I admire your spunk,your integrity and your steadfast refusal to be intimidated by lynch or Owen.
Believe it or not,but politicians are usually scared of people who have independent minds and tell it like it is.
A lot of us are genuinely behind you.
Adrian
Can you in your wisdom work out if the hotels were on summer rates and they had 100% occupancy wwhat the difference would have been to what they actually achieved. The major complaints I have heard in Canada is that the rates for April are too high and they can not afford them. Maybe a few dollars to advise that the rates are down, would be the thing to do. Like your thoughts on this
When I read “Readers” comments about Royal Zante I just had to go to the St Kitts paper and read the article.
On February 16, BFP posted – Urgent CARICOM Meeting About Regional Airlines, Fast Island Ferry – And Not A Moment Too Soon! I blogged about Royal Zante stating that they could provide ferry service for cricket fans.
I have sent several e-mails to Royal Zante asking about their proposed “ferry service”, and to date have received no answer.
As of today my agency has received 57 inquiries about ferry transportation. Twelve other agencies have also contacted me personally with over 140 requests for ferry transportation – (I asked for the number of requests they received). These are cricket fans with tickets and hotel accommodations, but no inter-island transportation – and airline schedules are not available.
Back in January CEO and Chairman of Royal Zante Cruises Gus Williams said the vessel (Royal Zante) would provide accommodation and travel for the CWC. Also, “we have the ability to act as a ferry and this is in keeping with the high prices that air travel is causing in the inter-islands.”
When you go to the website, it states that the company is developing a new site for 2007 (it stated that back in early February when I contacted them – and we’re three months into 2007)
http://www.royalzantecruises.com/
The CEO announced Royal Zante could provide ferry service, and then failed to capitalize. And I’ve never contacted a cruise company, identified myself as a travel agent and received no response.
Just thought I would add this to this ongoing saga.
Patrick…
I think some hotels did try and hike rates to a unrealistic level, but many did not.
We maintained our winter rate until 2nd May (rooms between US$89 and most expensive US$119 per night).
I believe the whole event was poorly thought though and hosting dates were fundamentally wrong.
I agree with many of Linda’s comments and that the tour operators/preferred travel agents did not help by including a US$630 surcharge per person for packages.
As stated before, an accommodation booking database would have helped fill the rooms where individuals had obtained tickets match tickets online.
Once again its damage control and after we count the cost of hosting the event the focus will have to be on recouping the ‘investment’.
No-one seems to have mentioned yet, exactly who is going to pay for the cost of the giveaway election budget?
Historically, after hosting such events, destinations suffer a fall-off for at least for a while.
Our tourism summer already looks bleak and I hope the policymakers have thought beyond 28th April.
From May until end of September, an average of just one cruise ship every three days is scheduled to dock into Bridgetown.
Of the 60 listed arrivals, 21 are being made by one ship (the Holiday) which has a maximum capacity of just 600 persons.
Adrian
I have looked at your website and I find your rates for the winter very reasonable and even for summer rates they are very good. I say to you congrats for looking at the long term rather than the short term
I was looking at other websites and have found some of the rates right through the roof. Had a friend whom I recommended Barbados to, called the Tourist Board in Toronto to be told that all hotels were full until May 1st. So I called a friend of mine at a West Coast hotel and got him a room. Had I known about your place before would have sent him there. In future will refer my friends to you as it seems you have a nice place. If you want send me some brochures and I will make sure I get them around Hamilton and Burlington for you. My point in all this is that the Bloody Island is only 60% occupied, how many others have been turned away. This I my estimation has turned out to be a big farce, with the Government taking the lead with all the hype