“I want to come home.”
Dear BFP,
This was taken Saturday afternoon south of Regina, Saskatchewan. I want to come home.
Sincerely
Wheatfield Bajan
Saskatchewan, Canada
BFP says: Had enough, Wheatfield Bajan? Come home. The weather has been a little wet lately but the sunshine will return. We’ll take a little rain any day to living in Canada during the winter, thanks!
And from another Canadian reader, we received this:
Dominican Republic sees surge in Canadian Tourists & Flights
What? Bim not good enough anymore?
“80 percent of the arrivals to the North Coast during the high season comes from Canada, and attributed it to the effort focused on that market…”
“…Musa predicted Puerto Plata’s best high season in eight years, with the arrival of around 60,000 additional Canadian tourists on 32 weekly flights“
Dominican Today: More Canada tourists help Puerto Plata’s quick recovery
Hey… Why dem Canuck tourists going to Dominican Republic anyway? Oh! I see…
The women’s movement Modemu, which groups more than 6,000 sexual workers, Friday demanded more respect from officials business and military leaders, and reiterated its rebuke to the creation of a red light district for them, as the bill pending in Congress stipulates.
Dominican Today: Prostitution leader rejects zoning, threatens to expose Dominican officials, military
Barbados Free Press 
Have you ever seen the Dominican women?
Eye-popping gorgeous!
Beats hell outa what one sees on Bush Hill, near the monument!
A Dominican “lady” walked across Bay Street in front my car, one night around 11 p.m.
I nearly crashed the car!
THAT’s why they go to the Dom.Republic rather than Barbados – good lookin nunu
What would it cost to send a virtual “Wish you were here’ postcard to all possible in the Canadian prairies depicting a beautiful beach scene of Barbados or at least have an up-to-date worldclass video posted on YouTube?
Links could be placed on weather websites to maximise viewing potential.
Look at the ‘Incredible India’ video as an example.
It’s time we got back to the basics in marketing our destination.
Ah!, Saskatchewan in WINTER, Gods Country. Snowmobiling, skiing, ice fishing, hot toddies, eiderdown comforters, warm fires and best of all…… saving energy on the AC.
@Adrian Loveridge November 20, 2011 at 1:28 pm
This would be a very good follow on from the Matt Lauer and the Today Show promotional effect! But will the BTA follow up and implement now that the Barbados “high” is still on?
Check the prices of a holiday in Barbados and then in the Dominican. It is about the dollars…,people very careful what they spend now. The Dominican competing hard and winning customers from Barbados.
.
Miller….
There in is the problem. The Matt Lauer TODAY programme was a great initiative by the BTA and I sincerely applaud them for it.
BUT it should not have ended there and left to amateurs posting a video(s) of the show on YouTube. The BTA should have arranged with the station to post a high definition video version of the combined Barbados segments of the show to open it up to a much larger audience with a call-to-action placed on ‘our’ version.
The new ‘ad’ for Twinings tea, visually and the sound track have attracted over 3 million views so far.
We have to start thinking PAST the opportunity.
Update: Make that 5 million so far and counting…………………
It’s a simple matter of Economics. Alot of people are out of work, or struggling to keep their jobs at this time. And as a current Canadian resident I can tell you first hand that the first and PRIME consideration in vacation planning is COST. What am I getting for my hard earned dollar. When you look at air-fare and accomodation in Barbados vs Dom Rep…its a no-brainer. Canadians will flock to Dom Rep!!
No one will pay the kind of money that you have to pay to get to and stay in Barbados at this time. You would need at least a 2 week holiday to justify that. AND the harsh employer mindset in Canada right now is that anyone who can take 2 weeks off at a time just maybe not that valuable to the organisation….maybe we can axe them!!. Check it out, most of those trips to Dom Rep, Jamaica and Mex at 1 week all-inclusive trips, which Barbados does not compete well in. That is just the reality of today’s economic pressures!!
No amount of advertising will change that reality for most Canadians. You want Canadians to come…….drop the prices!!!
Bajeabroad,
We can never be as cheap as the Dominican Republic, Jamaica and Mexico and I am sure you know all the reasons why, education, healthcare, quality of life etc.
A regular guest of ours has recently acquired a small restaurant in Ancaster, Ontario and looking at their menu and wine list, every single bottle of wine is at least twice the price that we charge. Main course, starters and desserts
are all higher than ours and this is of course not in a ocean front setting or the middle of Toronto.
If Canadians are looking for something cheaper than where they live, it is difficult for us to compete against the destinations you mention, We are only too grateful that the Canadians currently staying with us think they are getting value-for-money and choose to return year after year.
Well said Adrian. Most people are trying to compare apples with oranges.However having said that ,I still think prices in Barbados are too high . I went to a restaurant recently and starters were from $28 and cheapest main course was $60. Don’t talk about desert,the cheapest was $19, and that was ice cream
@ Rastaman,
Apples and oranges? Are you serious? It is apples and apples! When you jump on an airplane to visit NY you don’t categorise yourself as a “high end” or “low end” tourist do you? No, you go for perceived value. This notion that Barbados is a “high end” destination is a label that research has spewed out not the tourist themselves. The REALITY is that the economic conditions that permitted this market segmentation and large slice of “high end” tourist are rapidly eroding. WAKE UP, the average north american tourist is becoming a bargain hunting all-inclusive/cruise seeking individual!
How else do you explain the growth in cruise tourism out of southern USA gateways as well as the growth in destinations e.g. Mex, Dom Rep etc. They are catering to market needs! We can continue to fool ourselves that we are hhigh end but let’s not forget, that is our label not market reality!! Only a matter of time before British fiscal measures and APD price us out of the “high end” market. THE MARKET IS NEVER WRONG
@Adrian
There are several reasons why you cannot compare wine and menu prices in Ancaster to that of Barbados. Firstly Ancaster is on the Niagara escarpment, and a stone’s throw away from one of Canada’s top WINE regions, i.e. the Niagara wine region which is world renowned for ice wines, as well as more traditional reds and whites. Believe it or not there are some wineries here that charge more that $30,000/btl ( royal de maria wines). So the premium on wine prices there is more about the locale than the actual commodity.
Also, there is more of a variety/choice of full service restaurants in Ancaster/Hamilton area than in Barbados. A tourist in that area has more ability to encounter different price points when eating out so they can plan their vacation accordingly. Much less so in Barbados unless Cheffette will be the order of the day.
We have go to face reality that the world has changed!. Greece, Italy, Spain, US recession. People are more frugal and therefore more conscious of how their $$ are spent. Look at the better performing airlines, West Jet, Southwest, Ryanair…..all LOW BUDGET, no frills airlines, why…they are catering to a growing market of cost conscious travellers.
I am speaking from first hand experience directly out of the Canadian market….19/20 persons I encounter say Barbados is just to expensive as they plan their vacations to Mo Bay, Dom Rep, Bahamas, Mexico (Cancun/Coz/Playa as well as Acapulco/Mazatlan). And these folks are all Managers “Middle class” and alot have visited Barbados (15 or 20 years ago!)
Bajeabroad,
I lived in Canada for four years so have some idea.
I agree that some of our prices here on Barbados are too high but you have to appreciate some of the reasons why. How can any business absorb a 72 per cent increase in electricity, 60 per cent in water and 50 per cent increase in land taxes, all in one year?
I doubt any restaurant in Ancaster has been forced to try and deal with these sort of operational cost increases.
I had allowed for the high Canadian grown wine prices and was directly comparing imported wines.
Chianti (Italian) CAD$39
Merlot (Australian) CAD$30
Malbec (Argentinian) CAD$32
Beaujolias-Villages (French) CAD$36
To repeat, DOUBLE the price for the same wines that we serve.
@ Adrian
Long before those hefty increases in utilities Barbados had acheived the reputation of being over priced. I suspect that the main culprit is the difference between the value of the British Pound versus the Barbados Dollar which sent UK tourists flocking to Barbados, many of whom ended up purchasing properties. Driving up the cost of housing on an island with no natural resources and limited opportunities for employment. Most hotels and condo/villa rentals advertise their rates in British Pounds. Imagine an older condo in Holetown has rates of Pounds 500 per week – that’s Barbados $1,650.00 per week. And this is not a luxury building so I’d hate to see what their rates are like.
Duppy,
Yes! sadly I must agree.
I see that St. Lucia are now using our price disadvantage as a marketing tool
boasting ‘No VAT, No capital gains, No inheritance tax and No estate duty’ and ‘St. Lucia’s property prices are about 40 to 60 per cent lower than Barbados’.
This may partially explain British Airway’s decision to reduce Gatwick/Barbados flights by 60 per cent and increase them to St. Lucia.
How many tourist destinations Barbados compete against have a fixed currency? Might that be the problem? Too many entitlements for too many people push the cost of living way up for those who actually have to pay be they locals or tourists.
How many hotels closed down???? Many of our tourists are finding better deals with other sun spots.
Well based on the comments here I think then the posters would happily accept it when their family and friends get to live like people in the DR and Mexico who work at the resorts. Recently saw a place in Mexico charging over $10 000 nightly. They showed the plywood shack that was typical of where many of the staff live.
A coworker went to DR and unlike the typical tourist who wants to stay in the all inclusive paradise, she wanted to see the country. LOL !
Just trying to walk around the place was a hassle, adults and children begging her for anything she can spare and the horrid living conditions left a bad taste in her mouth and put a damper on her vacation.
Let’s drop wages and so called entitlements in Bim so that Bajans can live like that too, but Barbados would have competitive pricing. Let’s continue to promote an industry where the majority of Bajan staff get to be subjects all their working life.
I suggest to Bajeabroad that you should send some mini skirts and tight tops for your female family in Bim, so they can earn some cash on the side just like the ones in DR and Mexico too. Afterall, we want the tourists to have all the conveniences and no price is too great, right Bajeabroad.
As a Canadian I understand Barbados being pricier than the Dominican Republic, Cuba or Mexico. However, helpful and friendly service should be part of being able to enjoy a holiday no matter where or what the price.
It is laughable that we continue to bury our heads in the sand rather than face reality that is staring us right in the face.
Let us look at a parallel. The USA lived on borrowed finance for years, all the while countries like Mexico, China, Japan and Korea quietly became more competitive and “stole” jobs away from the USA while it slumbered in its false sense of security. Fast forward to the current reality now where US manufacturing is so far behind China that they find it difficult to compete and are begging, yes begging because China has the clout, China to revalue its currency. The Giant failed to recognise that the landscape had shifted until it is too late to radically alter its course and maintain its standard of living. The result is downgrade and a marked decline in the US standard of living with no recovery coming immediately.
Barbados has been dithering for years on diversifying its economy as well as making its number one industry more competitive. St Lucia is not asleep, nor other Caribbean destinations that tourist are flocking to. As I type this here in Toronto, I am bombarded by advertising about St Lucia, St Thomas, Jamaica and Bahamas. No Barbados. And we really honestly think that our dithering is being “competitive”
We are unfortunately going the route of the USA, ignorant to the changes around us while others “take over”. Did I hear today about more S&P downgrade threats? Hmm
Pity the fool, who still measures tourism arrivals , as opposed to total tourism spend as well the trend in spend per visitor. Stuck in the past
Sigh
..Barbados is waaaay over-priced!
“How many tourist destinations Barbados compete against have a fixed currency?
Might that be the problem?
Too many entitlements for too many people push the cost of living way up
for those who actually have to pay –be they locals or tourists. “
Are you inferring that Dipper’s Socialist Dream has now become our nightmare?
We are/were supposed to be the Singapore of the West.
What a dream THAT was… lol
The Socialist Dream of the 1960s is now the entire world’s nightmare!
Capitalism survives, albeit a bit knackered and frayed around its edges.
Still…it works. And Socialism doesn’t. Not in tiny societies like ours.
Barbados has way too many people, and way too many “entitlements”!!
At some point petty well every penny anyone spends in Barbados local currency has to be paid for in US$ or its equivalent. Be it cars, much of the food, fixtures in houses, gasoline, electricity, toys….it has to be paid for in US$. So it does not matter a dam about the Barbados dollar so long as the exchanged rate is fixed. All that matters is having enough US$ to pay for everything that is consumed. A novel plan would be to offer tourists $10 “barbados tourist dollarts” for each US$ they exchange. that would make the island compeititive. Just keep the exchange rate fixed for everything else….printing a few truckloads of barbados dollars to ensure they attract tourists might be a good plan..
Something has to be done to get mre US$ flowing into the country.
There has been a giant miscalculation of entitlements. In many USA cities they have 3 police forces. Two of them are retired and one of them is working…..Barbaods headig that way?
Like I said…………….
Ah!, Saskatchewan in WINTER, Gods Country. Snowmobiling, skiing, ice fishing, hot toddies, eiderdown comforters, warm fires and best of all…… saving energy on the AC.
Not to mention Adrian, wine is much cheaper than Barbados and bajeabroad’s Ontario. Saskatchewan residences like to drink WHISKEY so most other boose is sold at WALMART prices.
AHHHHH, Saskatchewan.
Having travelled to many of the above mentioned destinations as well as most of Central America I agree with Juniors’ comments. There is a value in being able to see the whole country, not just the resort and attached areas. Many tourist areas are tightly controlled enclaves and a world removed from the grinding poverty and poor living conditions that those who serve the resorts live in. Yet most tourists do not want to even consider where their hard-earned money is going to – most certainly not the locals!
I do agree that some entitlements may be excessive, we in Canada are having that discussion now as well. But at the end of the day, being able to have a decent standard of living does cost more, and if that raises the local prices then we’re willing to pay it. I don’t know if this would be considered ‘ethical tourism’ but our family is convinced that Barbados is good value for the money.