by Adrian Loveridge
I hope ‘we’ have a plan.
In less than two months we will see the arrival of two new air services. Factually the return of one from Philadelphia (US Airways) and a brand new addition, JetBlue from New York!
There is no doubt in my mind that JetBlue aggressive pricing will drive new business, even though American Airlines were quick to match fares on certain routes. Competition has certainly worked with the arrival of WestJet from Canada.
But in many respects the United States for us, is a different market and even before the current global economic crisis, it has not really seen any significant or sustained growth over the last six years or so.
It’s been a great puzzle to me for sometime why an increasingly disproportionate percentage of the BTA annual budget is consistently spent on this market with no real growth achieved.
The CTO (Caribbean Tourism Organisation) figures speak for themselves. Long stay US visitor arrivals to Barbados were for 2003 (129,326), 2004 (129,664), 2005 (131,005), 2006 (130,767), 2007 (134,041) and 2008 (131,003).
JetBlue are scheduled to operate Airbus 320’s with 150 seats daily, so a massive 54,750 seat capacity annually.
US Airways return initially with four times a week from October and then daily from December using an Airbus 319 with 124 seat capacity. Depending what happens after the peak season this will add another 29,760 to 42,160 seats annually.
So nearly another 100,000 seats a year from a market that has not experienced a increase of more than 3,274 long stay visitor arrivals in in any one of the last six years.
A new advertising agency was appointed in North America early this year and maybe they have some spectacular plans that those of us in tourism are not aware of yet. Despite a late booking pattern, two months is still a very short window of opportunity and I really hope we can maximise this wonderful opportunity.
As someone that tries to follow tourism closely, I have frankly been surprised not to receive details inviting hoteliers and tourism players onto road shows, travel agency and tour operator visits or in fact any promotional activities that include the service providers to the JetBlue and US Airways gateways and connecting cities.
Adrian Loveridge
Barbados Free Press 
This link is worth noting, especially the comments towards the end made by a Mr Negroman, who has strong views about an older Canadian tourist who was murdered in Barbados recently:
Adrian
Surely, before you go looking for a market, you should have a product. How is Barbados going about defining its tourism product? Can we just say that “Brand Barbados” is good enough, and that cash-strapped potential visitors should come rushing in just for that? As far as I can see, for that past 10-15 years, we have been hearing weekly about how Barbados depends on foreign exchange brought in by visitors, yet strangely, little or nothing has been done to improve the “product”. We read on another thread that nothing has been done to prevent groynes causing beach erosion on the west coast. Also, nothing is being done to preserve what could become a world-reowned nature sanctuary at Graeme Hall. Nothing is being done to stop the filthing-up of the island with garbage. You know where I am going here. Somehow, we seem to expect visitors to come here without doing anything extra for the additional dollars that they will have to spend to do so. Look at the west coast at Holetown. There is boarding for over 1/2 km on the sea side of the road from Divi heritage to the Beach House, which I suspect will be there for another 3 years at least. A concrete monstrosity is being erected at Lime Grove which is completely out of sync. with the Holetown environment – our next white elephant. The sea there is unswimmable after a rain storm. But it doesn’t matter, because we have a “world class” golf course which nobody but the super rich is allowed to play on, but which we use in our advertising. Surely, it is time to break up our tourism product into “product lines” with dedicated teams allocated to each product line. By “product lines”, I mean “Beach and Fun”, “Sports Tourism”, “Heritage and Eco-Tourism”, Conference and Convention Tourism”, and so on. The units dedicated to each of these product lines will be responsible for ensuring that the necessary infrastructure is in place for each one, and for the speciality marketing required for each one. It doesn’t take a genius to think these things through, just the will to get off our collective backsides. With Cuba and the Dominican Republic offering good value for money, we either act or we will be deluged by a tsunami of empty beds.
Very good post Peltdown….
Agree 100%…it is insulting to think that tourist will come here at exhorbitant costs especially in these times when all we have to show is Brand Barbados and nothing else….yet other less expensive destinations are investing in new/improved hotel plant and amenities etc…….we constantly complain yet sit on our a$$es instead of approaching the problem systematically and actually do the little that we can
Unemployed and soon to be unemployed people do not go on vacation.
That is the reality of the USA and Canada.
Staycations are being marketed left right and centre in the US and Canada.
4 day vacation from Toronto to Orlando air and hotel $499 canadian.
Barbados can continue to market aggressively but the USA and Canada are in recession and trying to keep their people at home.
There is fierce competition in the travel industry so just hope and pray the recession ends real soon.
When the economy starts to boom in North America, Barbados will fill the hotels.
We should be proud.
From Nationnews.
“a young man yesterday, lifted a 94-year-old woman from a burning house and took her to safety.
Shawn Howell broke down a door and brought Enid Sandiford to safety after a room in her Seclusion Road, Black Rock, St Michael home caught on fire.”
a rebounding market helps but the tourist product and service has to be in place and has to be of value.
Good for Shawn Howell!
The newspapers should praise him and get his story but shouldn’t we expect this of every citizen?
Peltdownman,
Excellent comments.
Finally somebody is telling here the lack of vision of Barbados for his, probably, first source of revenue : Tourism.
I share your views. More than ever in an competitive environement what can propose Barbados to be different?
A giant will soon wake up : Cuba. With a rich cultural history, big and diverse country culturaly and geographicaly.
We need to act quickly, constently with a clear vision.
All those new flights are excellent to bring new tourists… but which tourist? The number of hotel rooms is droping…
Our reactions desmonstrate the love for Barbados. So times to move on.
You forgot Casinos and “female entertainment”.
Cuba could become the Las Vegas of the Caribbean.
What everybody needs to know is, there is something called ‘competition’ in the world, and there are destinations, and new ones coming “on stream” every day, that are offering much more. Better rates, better service, better entertainment, more interesting things to do…. and if we are to compete it requires full participation by every citizen, and not just a few ‘advertisments’ here and there or ‘sales promotion’ gimmicks…
Yet another attack on tourists in Tobago.
Almost exactly a year since that Swedish couple were hacked to death in the same part of the island.
It’s all over the British press (see the link below from the UK Times Online).
http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/world/us_and_americas/article6739513.ece
Note the extremely depressing comment by the police superindent about lack of help from members of the public.
@Adrian, I too am puzzled by the attempt to focus on the US, and at this time too. I cannot see how Barbados, located so far south, is really competitive with say The Bahamas (very near and lots of flights especially from Florida, and with several different islands to offer), Jamaica (quite near, and the ‘all inclusive’ deals seem to cater well for people’s concerns about safety), Bermuda (at least for those in the US east coast area), and Cuba (via The Bahamas or Canada). So what is really going on?
That said, the core market, the UK visitors, may be ready for some ease on the basis of that country’s economic woes looking to end, but that is a far cry from the country growing again or people feeling that a Caribbean vacation is value for money (France, Spain, Italy, Greece, Portugal have sun, sea, sand, booze and sex aplenty. Other EU destinations offer some of that and different attractions (culture) and relatively easy access (road, train, plane, even boat/cruise).
I am also at a loss what would really draw a discriminating visitor to Barbados from so far north, when one thinks of attractions that offer value for money (not much really in duty free, very few general attractions (if one discounts cricket, and with apparently uncoordinated closures such as at Harrison’s Cave).
I’ve also noticed that some of the restaurants have suffered and are either closed/closing/operating limited hours. This is anecdotal and not survey data.
You’re the expert. What’s your take on these points?
LivinginBarbados,
I never think of myself as an expert,but 43 years in the industry teaches you a lot of common sense.
At least 12 restaurants have closed so far this year and that should be of tremendous concern to the policymakers.
With over 1,500 more airline seats out of mostly the US to fill each week come 1st October, in my humble opinion there should be a national strategic plan which involves ALL the tourism partners and overseas media to drive demand.
I have not seen a single mention of a sales blitz
or availability of reduced priced flights for hoteliers, ancillery services, car rental agencies etc,
to travel up to New York, Philadelphia or the connecting cities.
How many travel writers have been invited down in October while we have the available rooms and airlines seats?
What smart partnerships and co-operative programmes have we formulated with US Airways and JetBlue to maximise the benefits from their websites and databases?
Just 7 weeks and the clock is ticking!
Adrian, take ‘expert’ with as much salt and pepper as you like; I ‘know what you mean. Let’s agree on ‘experienced’. Thanks for confirming my impression on the restaurant, though I also should note that some new names have appeared (and I do not know if that is more than name change).
I should have aligned myself to the comments of Peltdownman, which for some reason I did not see fully.
I am just back from a fews days with local friends at Burke’s Beach and will try a bit of west coast weekend/staycation before month’s end. No LIAT hassles, good value for money, and more money left over to spend, no exchange rate issues. But will I find enough interest? I really want relaxation, so my needs are simple. My gut feeling (very unscientific) is that staycation is nowhere near capable of filling the gaps for loss of foreign visitors.
Very good points. I would a few observations.
One observation is that some debris is government created: eg, bushwhacking on road verges with no immediate clear up, which heavy rains then disperse to clog gulleys, and encumber roadways.
I am not convinced about the ‘sports tourism’ model in place. Those involved in sports here have mentioned that it’s not doing much to develop sport on island as well as attract visitors to participate. I cannot judge that. But I sense it is true for golf. Cricket is obviously different. Football: can it be different if the local product is poor? Though foreign teams might love to be in sunny conditions for training, you need good facilities to tempt them. Swimming: what has been done to make the island a location for say N American colleges to base themselves for winter training?
You are right of course, not in its own right will Staycations make up for the fall in long stay visitor arrivals BUT it helps keep businesses viable and maintains employment.
My wife an I have experienced at least 4 StayCations and its great.
Hopefull you can also experience one of ten BDS$99 Fixed Price Menu re-DISCOVER restaurants.
Adrian, can you highlight more about “one of ten BDS$99 Fixed Price Menu re-DISCOVER restaurants”? You can e-mail me via my blog (http://livinginbarbados.blogspot.com)? Robots sweep sites so I wont flag it here.
The problem with attracting U.S. tourists is the deeply entrenched Britishness of Barbados. There is little doubt that Barbados is more British than the British themselves. If Barbados had The Queen, and royalty, and Buckingham Palace, i.e. if it were truly British it might be OK because North Americans like to see these British things. But, since we don’t have these real British things (other than Nelson who seems to be a perpetual pariah hereabouts), we can’t really compete in the marketplace for Americans who want to see things British. Our downfall is that we think we are British when it comes to the prices that we charge, and the abysmal quality of the service that we have on offer. Americans do not shop on the high street. Americans shop at WalMart. They are inveterate bargain hunters. Prices in Barbados rival the West End of London, OK for Brits who display their socio-economic status by paying exorbitant prices for mundane goods and services, but not OK for attracting people who are accustomed to reasonable prices for reasonable products and services. Ditto Canadians to a somewhat lesser extent.
With the exception of Peach and Quiet and a few other boutique hotels, the service offered in Barbados is so bad as to be a gross embarrassment. Again OK for Brits who thrive on class hierarchy status display and understand the value of snobbery, but not OK for North Americans who expect to be greeted civilly by staff in hotels, stores, entertainment venues, and other such places. The failure to acknowledge the presence of the customer, the sneer, the shtupse, the racial innuendos that typically accompany “service” in this island simply and immediately turn off North Americans. It matters not how much BTA spends on advertising in North America if the tourists who take the first bait then return home with tales of extravagent prices and hostile treatment by the local population. Word of mouth always, ALWAYS, outclasses and out-performs paid advertising.
If Barbados expects to attract tourists from North America then Barbados must offer a product that North Americans want (and they DO want sun, sea, and sand, in safety), at a price that is not a clear and present rip-off, presented by pleasant, interested, and engaging staff who clearly understand the difference between service and servitude, providing the former cheerfully, willingly, and eagerly, while eschewing the latter.
Finally, there is far too little effort made to convert cruise tourists into long-stay tourists, especially those who home-ported here. At the end of the voyage these folks are herded like cattle into the airport, often for a six to eight hour wait for their flights home. What a great place to spend a day! GAIA does not allow the Concorde Experience to advertise that a final holiday event is only a few hundred feet away. GAIA does not allow passengers to leave the departure lounge after passing security. What civilized airport forbids passengers to go back out? Where are the discount coupons for future rooms, meals, and entertainment for cruise passengers to encourage them to return? Not only are we arrogant, we are just plain stupid in our approach to attracting North Americans. Summed up simply, the problem is one of not knowing the market, the potential customer base, and it is not caring enough to attempt to offer a reasonable product at a competitive price.
Adrian, I was lazy. I found a website about Re-Discover.
Keep the sunshine guarantee. Give me the B$99 meal. Thanks. Will definitely try and flag to visitors.
The comments by Thewhiterabbit echo what I have heard from Bahamians. Can Adrian shed light on what collaboration with/lessons are learnt from the other island destinations? This is not a wheel that needs to be re-invented.
“if it were truly British it might be OK because North Americans like to see these British things”…”OK for Brits who display their socio-economic status by paying exorbitant prices for mundane goods and services”
Wow… just… wow.
You only have to follow Jack Bowman’s link above to read some comments on how some locals view tourists as ‘white trash’ and ‘women only looking for sex’. No wonder women are hounded (yes – not all tourist women want that type of attention) if this is a widely held belief. Any of your internation visitors who follow that link will be disgusted I am afraid.
American tourists do come this far south but they don’t come to barbados they go to ST Lucia.
Also St Lucia has the same amount of cruise ships as barbados but 40% of cruise ships do not do tours in Barbados as they are the start and finish of the cruise eg client flys in and gets on coach to cruise ship then gone. Arrive back in Barbados 8:30 am leave barbados at 2:00pm on a plane.
So I have now moved my business to St Lucia a real shame but there just is not the work here to make it financially stable and the facilities for my business are very poor here but facilities in St Lucia are massively superior because of the government investment.
Don’t want to upset anyone on here but you got to tell it the way it is. One last thing when when you move to st lucia to do business you don’t have to be a proerty developer to get the incentives.
Adrian
Now that you are a part of the new administration, you ought to be telling us that we have a plan.
The White Rabbit
GAIA does not allow passengers to leave the departure lounge after passing security. What civilized airport forbids passengers to go back out
*********************************************
Not since 9-11 they don’t, not if they want to keep their security ranking. If the passengers were allowed to leave the departure lounge area they would be subject to the security checks all over again and who wants that?
Once I had a layover of several hours in Miami after a cruise and I prearranged a tour of the Everglades through the cruise line. That meant the cruise operator was responsible for getting my luggage to the Airport while I went on my tour and ensuring that I made the flight on time. Perhaps cruise liners offer the same service to departing guests in Barbados but the guests will only partake in other activity if they are sure that they make their flight.
Anon,
Sadly I am not.
You may re-call that I was one of 9 BTA Directors that were REVOKED.
Adrian, is revoked merely removed or does it mean reproached or even rebuked? Are you now resigned to the situation, whatever it is? I will understand a ‘no comment’ reply.
Well put and accurate. I do not think that Barbadians generally understand how bad a state the tourist industry is in.
A clear example was the number of hotels shut in the last four years, for conversion to condos.
Will someone shut a viable entity? Some, for the quick gain that was promised from the ‘condo plan’. But not this many.
It shows that there is not much of a plan, not much of an industry.
I maintain that our tourist industry has seen its 1970’s heyday.
We compete against world class facilities in the Bahamas and the like, which are very close to USA in flight time. These places also have better hotel infrastructure and casino facilities, coupled with the service and value for money issue, why would an American choose here instead?
Our industry is now purely English wealthy niche.
The ONLY chain hotel we currently have is the Hilton.
Where is the Radisson, Ramada Inn, Sheraton Hotels etc?
Forget it. The ONLY way to improve is to gain more chain hotels.
Give them whatever they want i.e. casinos etc, better service and value.
Otherwise, we remain the English wealthy niche market.
Peace
I am disappointed that you appear to ‘have fallen out of favour’ Mr.Loveridge, in being disenfranchised from the BTA.
So, what ‘expert’ are they relying on now (sic).
Unfortunately, in the world, people who tend to say it like it is, get ignored, in favour of self-professed experts and advisors, it is the way.
It is also why things fall apart. Then much time is spent for more ‘experts’ trying to assess why things have fallen apart.
LOL.
Peace
We have discussed Cuba in the recent past, extensively.
Bottom line, when Cuba opens up, all of the tourism destinations in the Eastern Caribbean will be finished, done, kaput.
Peace
Adrian, though not an expert, you may be able to shed light. I’m an economist. I wonder how it’s possible for the restaurants concerned to live with the heavy discounting during the re-discover period, which is very long. Are they really profitable or at least breaking even, or are they taking losses and if so, with what future pay off?
My general view is that restaurants here are over priced, and my personal decision for about 18 months was to boycott most of them (see http://livinginbarbados.blogspot.com/2007/11/boycotting-restaurants.html), except when special deals were on (rare) or if someone treated me (as rare). I prefer to find good, reasonably priced, fare, especially if it’s local/regional food (love Jus Grilling, Ackee Tree, Muster’s, Kingston 10, Shakers, many ‘hole in the wall’ restaurants that offer great food without the need for a bailout plan). Or, more often, I eat food cooked at home.
That, to me, is a big indictment of a key pillar of the local hospitality industry. But, I do not have a fix. I know that UK tourists, with an overvalued currency, especially when the pound was around US$2, and even now at US$1.65/1.70, can support these prices. For Americans, there was no such advantage, with the 2:1 peg between the B$ and US$.
In fact, I have found that it works out cheaper to do that and occasionally fly to NYC and have a week of fine dining there. The logic of that is that Americans are unlikely to find a holiday to Bim that involves paying for dining a good deal.
My experience in civilized and uncivilized airports is that leaving the departure lounge is permitted but always subject to going through security agian. It’s too easy to be mischevious by claiming to have been screened once.
If passengers want the inconvenience, and the risk of delay, of leaving the departure area, they can take it.
My worse experience was also at MIA, when my wife asked me to find a book. I went out of the departure area to search only to find that an alert had the security sealed on my return. Result? Overnighting in MIA is not much fun, an unnecessary expense, and then all the hassle and cost of rebooking.
LIB
I had a similar situation in Miami but was able to reenter the lounge. I forgot a small bag containing sundries and tee shirts on the cart while clearing Security/Immigration. The difference? I asked the Security personnel whether I could exit to retrieve the bag, they agreed and after a long search (the cart and bag had disappeared) a helpful Bajan (there is one everywhere) working at the Airport directed me to the correct holding area where I was able to collect said bag (minus fruit etc. which they had dumped).
I was able to return to the departure lounge after the usual routine (remove shoes/belt etc.)
Moral of the story: sometimes all you have to do is ask
Adrian
So you bashed the BLP for nothing then, since there is still no vision for Barbados’ tourism product..
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@Sargeant
I’m sure you know that I would not easily be thwarted (and I have had a plane reopened, when late for a business flight) but recall “an alert had the security sealed on my return”. No amount of asking was going to change that.
But I support the moral as a general principle (it’s part of what I call the ‘theory of the give’: give a person a chance to be kind/good and they usually take it).
The White Rabbit makes the best argument on your marketing to the U.S. – I just left Barbados yesterday and have been visiting for over a dozens years. We are not Brits!!! Americans want the “deal”. Gas in Barbados is US$8.00 per gallon! Everything is too expensive. Take it from the big boys…work on volume. We shop at Walmart, Kmart, and discount stores. Eat at cheap fast food restaurants, and expect Great service…inexpensively. We are bargain hunters. Americans like history tours, gambling, Las Vegas, New Orleans and Broadway shows. Americans like the “hype”. Give them all of that. Barbados is pretty laid back. Americans want excitement!! Your Ministers need to hire some N.Y. marketing gurus who understand the U.S. marketplace and have your entrepreneurs develop businesses that cater to that. How many times can a grown person go to the “GAP” or the “Boatyard”. Develop other forms of entertainment, lower prices and have hotels offer better rates. You want me to come back and spread the word. It is true – we are going to the Bahamas, D.R. and Jamaica…and Mexico. Competition is good. That’s what the U.S. is about. The best deal for the dollar. Give me a better deal than the rest and I’ll try you out. And when I get there don’t whack me for $20.00 for breakfast. Breakfast is relatively inexpensive here. Know your market! Make breakfast cheap and get me for dinner. I bought 2 cups of coffee for BDS$13.00 – that’s too much. Didn’t purchase coffee after that. The Ministry needs to figure it out. If you get tens of thousands od Americans there….then what? Make it fun, exciting, reasonable, pleasant. Americans really want the U.S. ….in a different country sorry to say.
I had two visitors for christmas one is a Prosecuting Attorney in the state of Georgia, we took them to brown sugar for dinner whch was very enjoyable.however , we visited Bridgetown ,for lunch, and they wanted to go to back yard lunch,where local people eat, I did not know where to take them, then I recall someone had taken me to Musta , and that is where we went, inexpensive and good. By the way I took them to Violet Beckles home and the Attorney is willing to come to Barbados and PROSECUTE these crooks we have here in Barbados . There was a meeting held at Harrison’sCollege Tuesday night for all people who have problems with lawers , it was very well attended, there will soon be a next meeting you will be notified. The hurtful thing is ,the MEN WHO WE ARE TO LOOK UP TO WHO ARE OUR LEADERS CONNOT BE TRUSTED, THEY ARE OUR BROTHERS< SISTERS,OUR CHILDREN,OUR FRIENDS , OUR SCHOOL MATES, all turn out to be crooks,God help us all ,who can we trust, every one is looking to save money. sorry i got carried away.
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I think Puerto Rico does a better job marketing itself. I think most people in America are aware that you can travel to USVI and Puerto Rico without a passport. For a family of four that is HUGE savings….
That is an important point about the passports not necessary, but don’t most US travelers to Puerto Rico and USVI have passports anyway?
@NNV. I don’t know. 🙂 For my own curiosity I considered a slightly different angle. The U.S. Department of State has stats. on the annual number of passports issued. ( http://travel.state.gov/passport/ppi/stats/stats_890.html )
U.S. passports expire in ten years…… So by adding stats for 2000 through 2010, I feel anyone should be able to figure the number of Americans with the ability to travel out of the United States and its territories:
2010 – 13,883,129 (including 1,596,485 passport cards)
2009 – 13,486,085 (including 1,550,529 passport cards)
2008 – 16,208,003 (including 523,706 passport cards)
2007 – 18,382,798
2006 – 12,133,537
2005 – 10,123,424
2004 – 8,825,410
2003 – 7,300,667
2002 – 7,001,482
2001 – 7,119,506
2000 – 7,292,182
——
107,873,094 total passports & passport cards. This could also be contrasted with the overall U.S. population. Officially, standing at 313,232,044 this month. ( https://www.cia.gov/library/publications/the-world-factbook/geos/us.html )
NOTE: There’s the potential for some repeat passports (i.e. those lost/stolen/change of names), and therefore some may be some re-filed within that decade. Also some persons may: have passed on, begun serving in the military, or still yet be in financial difficulties (unemployed, homelessness, etc.)
Given Barbados remains one of a few governments not compliant with the U.S.’s Western Hemisphere Travel Initiative (WHTI), ( https://secure.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/wiki/Western_Hemisphere_Travel_Initiative ) I’d subtract “passport cards” from the grand total.
Without “passport cards”, Barbados is left with 104,202,374 eligible tourists from America. Not bad at all actually.