Are we really doing that well on Barbados?
First quarter of 2012…
St. Lucia up 15 per cent overall.
Up 30% from the UK (despite the outrageous Air Passenger Duty)
Up 28% from Canada
Up 9% from the USA
There was a time not so long ago when mention of St. Lucia as ‘competition’ for our tourism visitors and dollars was laughed at. That laughing stopped a few years ago and has now turned into serious concern as St. Lucia’s tourism industry continues to progress in the face of a worldwide economic downturn.
And, as anyone in the Barbados tourism industry can tell you… more than a few visitors to St. Lucia used to vacation in Barbados (with the emphasis on ‘used to’).
Our leaders and tourism pundits should be asking some tough questions and making some candid observations about the Bajan tourism product. They should also be talking to travelers in transit through Barbados to St. Lucia – and there are many. Finally, some of our tourism middle management should be quietly spending a week in St. Lucia and then returning to Barbados with a tourist’s eyes to look at our own product and promotional efforts.
Can anyone from the tourism industry answer the question for BFP’s readers…
Why did St. Lucia do so well in Q1 of 2012, and why didn’t Barbados achieve the same results?
Further Reading…
St Lucia records 30% increase in UK visitors
CASTRIES, St Lucia, Friday April 27, 2012 – In spite of rising competition and what they call the general “volatility” of the industry, local tourism stakeholders are lauding a marked increase in the number of stay-over visitors to St Lucia for the first quarter of this year.
According to figures just released by the St Lucia Tourist Board, stay-over arrival arrivals to the island for the first quarter of this year totaled 95,170, representing a 15% increase over the same period last year.
Leading the way in this tourism increase to St Lucia is the United Kingdom, ringing in a 30% increase – a total of 23,479 visitors, 5,458 more than the same period last year…
… continue reading this news story at Caribbean360.com
Photo: Thanks to Joe Knows StLucia!
Barbados Free Press 
Simple. it is cheaper to holiday there
Maybe because they are not taking the p one double s with their restaurant and bar prices….not every visitor to Barbados is an A list celebrity yet your prices reflect this.
Maybe they have not so many racists in the government like Barbados? Maybe thes are more friendly to their guests? Maybe they love to work for tourists? Maybe they do not care whether the guest is black or white or yellow or green? Maybe they love to earn money? Maybe they know how important it is to have work?
Perhaps something to do with the fact you can actually see the sea when you drive along a coastal road
St.Lucia is a more natural type of island.
I’ve heard our visitors to Barbados say we are over-developed
-and the Barbados South Coast is a lot like Spain…for what that’s worth..
yup all we have is nice beaches and history,
Our Beaches are full of harassing beach bums, lazy ass guards that do nothing about them.
Majority of locals don’t care about history
Government does not try to educate us how important tourism is to our survival.
It is allready to late
Our Leader needs to act now and Lead for a change!
I am in Barbaods now and have been visiting for fifteen years…many many changes
All the beaches well over developed with condo blocks so you now cant see or get to the beaches (as a side point they are beyond the reaches of most people……so who gonna buy them all…)
When you can get to a beach…such as Paynes Bay you get trampled over by ignorant cruise ship visitors who spen nothing and leave only litter……with noisy sunbed vendors yelling and shouting ….something needs to be done with Paynes Bay, before it kills the hotels on that beach
Alot of people in Barbados are simply not interested in looking after visitors and giving good service…try booking a villa and the real estate agents have a take it or leave it attitude…hotels the same…and then cry when business is down
A list prices at most restautants and bars
The rest of the world get pace with trends, what people want …Barbados is trading on its past expecting the world to pay…get that chip off ya shoulder
So why do I keep coming back…coz if you know Barbados, there are still afew places you can go that are unspoilt and beaches where you dont get constant harrassment and ignorant cruise ship morons
Thats Right ,,,,All of you are right
If it takes BTA a week to figure out that it is the price, and related to the GDP of each island then we have the wrong people running things. The question is how do you reverse the stuation in Barbados that appears to be trending differently than in other locations. Price and value are the key. When the right balance of value at the right price is available things will change and if it is not available, the trend line will not change.
whataloadarubish wrote: Our Beaches are full of harassing beach bums.
Had a relative down here a few months ago with a new boyfriend who was visiting Barbados for the first time. They were staying in the St. Lawrence Gap for a week or so. The boyfriend told me the only thing that he really found to dislike about his first Barbados holiday was what he perceived as an almost constant harassment from men trying to sell him drugs or taxi services (neither of which they wanted) every time they stepped out of the hotel to walk in the Gap, day or night. He found it really irritating, the way some of these people would put on a transparently pretend act of being a friendly local just being nice to a tourist while he knew very well they were only going to hit him up in the next breath to buy whatever junk it was they were pushing. Apparently a couple of these “tourism entrepreneurs” also had a rather aggressive and unpleasant attitude when their offers were declined.
Now he had never been to St. Lucia, but he had vacationed in Aruba on multiple occasions and he was naturally comparing Barbados to what he was accustomed to in Aruba. He indicated that in this harassment aspect, in Barbados it was significantly worse and more annoying than anything he was accustomed to in Aruba.
On the positive side, he had a keen interest in aviation and was thrilled to have seen and toured the Concord in the Concord museum (took numerous pics of the Concord, with and without the GF included, from every possible angle and vantage point),and he also enjoyed the usual East Coast scenic tour. He discovered he really liked Chefette’s hamburgers (although he had a bit of a run in at one Chefette restaurant with a server who refused him more than one extra ketchup packet for his french fries) He enjoyed getting to meet some friendly (for real) locals in the form of his girlfriend’s Bajan family and friends, and he also thoroughly enjoyed an afternoon at the Crane Beach and swimming at the Crane.
Table 1: Tourist (Stop-over) Arrivals in 2011 (CTO STATISTICS)
Destination Period Tourist
Arrivals
% Change
Barbados P Jan-Dec 567,724 6.7% change
Bermuda * Jan-Dec 236,038 -0.3%change
Jamaica Jan-Dec 1,951,752 -0.5%change
Saint Lucia Jan-Aug 212,486 -14.1%change
St. Maarten * Jan-Dec 424,340 -4.6%change
St. Vincent & the Grenadines Jan-Dec 73,866 1.0%change
* Non-Resident Air Arrivals ** Non-Resident Hotel registrations only P Prelim
Figures are subject to revision by reporting countries
SOURCE – Data supplied by member countries and available as at April 26, 2012
I’ve been to Barbados twice, in 2004 and in 2010. 2004 was alright, everything came together. We stayed at the Gap and it was noisy but we knew it would be because we did our research. People (Barbados people) were not so friendly outside of the pubs but it was all in all an enjoyable experience for a little more than we paid elsewhere, but we hadn’t been to Barbados so it was new.
2010 six years later we came back and it was like another century. Never saw a smile from the time we flew it, got through customs, got a cab, booked into the hotel and went down to the bar. Not one smile from anyone Barbados.
Compared with 2004 the place was filthy everywhere. Couldn’t walk on the broken sidewalks. The hotel was filthy. drugs, drugs, drugs everywhere you walked they tried to hit us up. Coke, grass. We don’t do that and they would get mad when we said “NO!”. We said “no” politely the first time but several times I was reduced to shouting at them to “LEAVE US ALONE”.
You talk about Jamaican hegling? I’ve been to Jamaica four times and at least you’re not afraid and the guards keep them away from you on the beach. On the beach near the Gap it was unbearable. We tried one day and went back for one more day but bailed within a few minutes.
Cuba was much better than Barbados in every way. We’ll try Saint Lucia it looks beautiful and that is how I found this website we were looking for st lucia and here we are at this magazine.
Never again will we set foot on your island. Sorry but you ruined it.
To get back to your original question “Why is St Lucia’s tourism performing so well?” In one word – Sandals. Whilst I agree with most of the comments above about the declining torism product in Barbados, I believe that the Sandals marketing effort is what has boosted St Lucia’s tourism. That is why it is essential that we forget all the complaints about all-inclusive when it comes to selling Almond Beach Village (ABV). The Sandals group is the perfect fit for ABV, especially if, as Butch Stewart stated, they will use their “Beaches” brand which attracts families. Sandals has three all-inclusive hotels in St Lucia and apart from LeSport (also all-inclusive), I defy anyone to name any of the other hotels in St Lucia. So let’s not kid ourselves, although St Lucia scenery is spectacular, most visitors do not travel outside the Rodney Bay/Cap Estate area. Barbados has much more going for the visitor, but it doesn’t have Sandals marketing behind it – yet.
On another point, I must congratulate the organisers of the Sir Garfield Sobers Festival of Golf that took place last weekend. It turned out to be an excellent sports tourism product, with over 160 Trinidadians and other overseas players from the French and Spanish-speaking Caribbean, and the UK as well. When Trini golfers come to Barbados, they spend. At one of the golf venues alone, I counted 16 rental cars in the car park. Rental cars, hotels, meals and drinks, all spent in Barbados over 4 days. A great annual event for Barbados and worth all the encouragement it can get.
What people need to understand is the need to compare apples with apples, any tourist attraction will appear to do better when it is in its embryonic state, so if you want to compare performance compare Barbados with an equally aged tourist destination and see, if we have been doing as badly as persons want you to believe. The Bahamas suffered the same thing when Barbados was a fledgling in the tourist market. They responded by creating sustainable tourism products. So we in Barbados need to recognise that heritage, health and sports tourism are areas that need to be embraced. For example we need to revitalise Bridgetown , make it a pedestrian only area and provide theatres, open recreational spaces, spas and the like that would appeal to both locals and visitors alike. Make Bridgetown a historical museum and capitalise on the goodwill that will come from being listed as a World Heritage Site
St .Lucia has benefited from millions of dollars of free publicity for their tourism product like no other island in the EC has in the name of Amy Winehouse. TMZ, Media Take out, MSNBC, CNN, FOX, Bravo, Facebook and Twitter were all abuzz with the Amy Winehouse St. Lucian connection (and her St. Lucian ‘adopted’ daughter) after her death. No surprise that the highest % of arrivals to St. Lucia came from the UK.
I’m not saying that they do not have a great product but the Amy Winehouse saga did boost their image internationally.
I think one of the fundamental reasons St Lucia’s tourism is doing so well, is due in part to the attitude of the people. I’m not saying at all that Barbadians are impertinent in anyway, but tourism entails more than
just sand, and sun. It is important that we read between the lines.
It is said that when a plane crashes it is usually not due to one factor, but rather a series of contributing factors. The same can be said of the Barbados tourist product. An expensive destination – hotel room, food, entertainment, car rentals, taxis – in other words everything. But most important of all is the level of service. Unfortunately, most Barbadians equate service with servitude – an oxymoron if you ask me, given that the very livelihood of everyone is dependant on tourism. Barbados at one time, probably the 60’s and 70’s, had a certain cache, but then greed and corruption set in. Then came the drugs and guns. The uncontrolled growth. The destruction of many things which made Barbados unique. And litter everywhere you looked. Heaven help Barbados.
I am going to be quite blunt here. Sometime last year a few of my co- workers visited Barbados, who were white of course.
And they expressed to me in no uncertain terms, that Barbados didn’t impress them the way they thought it would have; given the fact that they had visited Aruba, St. Thomas, and St. Lucia and was impressed .
They comments really took me by surprise, because I utilize every opportunity I get to big up Bim here in America.
So I inquired as why was it that Barbados didn’t impress them. And they said to me unequivocally that Barbados was too dirty, and that the guys who sold the merchandise on the beach were somewhat aggressive.
Now I’m not arbitrarily, or unilaterally using they comments to paint a picture negative of Barbados at all, that’s not my intentions here. I just thought that they comments were a little disingenuous that all.
from looking at the above comments, seems like our biggest isue is our beach bum/ drug pushers, even the poor man trying to make a honest living selling aloe, you are all anoying and driving away our tourist!!
We have been to Bim and St Lucia multiple times and love both, but the never ending spew of really bad news stories about Barbados posted on this site has really got me considering more trips to St Lucia and less to Bim.
To the person who said that the visiting of Amy Winehouse may have been the reason for the increase in UK visitors to St. Lucia….how come the fact that Rihanna, a bajan and ambassador for barbados, who is much more of a “hot topic” in the media isn’t increasing Barbados’ tourism the same way you suggested that Amy Winehouse did for St. Lucia?/….. as much as I agree that Amy gave St. Lucia good, free publicity and may have contributed to the increase in St. Lucia’s tourism, I still think that the warm and welcoming attitudes of the St. Lucian public is what keeps the tourists coming back. I am now visiting Barbados and I must say, the bajan public is very bitter, unfriendly and even frighttening at times.
Whilst not only about Amy Winehouse or Rhianna
I think Rhianna has an image of being a slapper and yes Amy was not trouble free it was less bad image than Rhianna btw I am not a fan of either
Barbados has a attitude problem…you may not like the tourists, but they do bring in money and if you are nice to them then they will spend their money with you and then you will have the same money as tourists etc
@peltdownman…I can name you some good, brand, international hotel names operating from St Lucia – Ladera (visited many times by Oprah Winfrey, and other big names); Windjammer Landings; The Landings (one of the most upscale hotel chain in the world); Jade Mountain (Conde Naste – the 3rd BEST HOTEL IN THE WORLD), ref, Conde Naste, among others.
St. Lucia has some of the best hotels in the world namely, Jade Mountain (recently voted best hotel in the Caribbean by Conde Naste), Ladara, Jalousie, Anse Chastanet, La Sport, etc. Sandals is simply a chain and does not match any of the above hotels in design, service nor character. In addition, St. Lucia has a World Heritage Site with the Pitions in its midst. But most of all the people are naturally warm, helpful and welcoming. Barbados is much more expensive than St. Lucia and in the current economic climate it’s difficult to justify coming to Barbados as it is not seen as value for money. Barbados may have better beaches but St. Lucia has a bit of everything from very furtile volanic soil where anything grows, virgin rain forest, abandance of fresh fruits and food (with a food market being described as 3rd best in the world earlier this year) , great restaurants and bars, french heritatge, creole language, etc. The scenery is extremely picturesque because of its mountainous nature. So all in all an island busting at the seams with an identity not found anywhere else. Recently St. Lucia has started to resurrect its old plantation estates into hotels e.g. Chocolat Hotel focusing of a different tourist product of chocolate using the best coca in the world which surprisingly was being cultivated hundreds of years ago on the same plantation. They in St. Lucia have diversified their tourist product much more than Barbados. They have sports tourism, Health and Wellness, Heritage Tourism, World Heritage Tourism, Farming Tourism, Best Honenymoon Destination, Music Tourism (using the renowned Jazz festival), etc, so there is something for everyone. All in all it’s much nicer island with nicer people and less expensive. Better value of money all round! But how long will that last is anyones guess.
One more question about ST Lucia:Why is the crime rate rising so rapidly?
One of the side effects of development especially with the increase of drug consumption is increase in crime. Yes the crime rate is rising in St. Lucia and that is the case all over the Caribbean but it has not reached anywhere near the level of crime in Barbados. Quite frankly, the high crime level in Barbados is one of the reasons for the suffocation of its tourist industry.
@Larry and Paul
Yes, I know about the upscale resorts, and Ladera is one of my favourite places to stay. My point is that these are not the hotels that have increased St Lucia’s tourism – let’s face it, like all luxury hotels, they are pretty much full in season every year. So the growth has to come out of season and that is where Sandals has scored. With 3 hotels on the island, and very attractive packages and lots and lots of advertising in the main markets, they have put St Lucia on the international tourist map. The spin-off from this type of marketing will benfit other hotels as well.
The Globe & Mail is known as Canada’s National Newspaper. In part because of its daily Report on Business section, its national readership and subscribers would largely be mid, upper-mid and upper income readers – in other words prime targets for the Barbados tourist product. Its weekly Globe Style section is published on Saturdays and is mainly advertising targeting big spenders. Today’s, May 5, issue includes ads for $445.00 sunglasses and a $460.00 hoodie. On the back outside page is a full page St. Lucia Tourism/Air Canada Vacations ad promoting June packages at 12 hotels, including 3 Sandals resorts. Such full page ads for St. Lucia by both Air Canada and WestJet are commonly seen in the Toronto newspapers. If found at all, Barbados ads are usually found in the small print.
Paul Lowe:are you serious when you said that the crime rate in St.lucia is nowhere near the that in Barbados?
St Lucia is simply beautiful. We are friendly, we are being taught in school about tourism and how it brings food to our table..we simply love people black or white and we treat everyone with respect especiaaly our visitors because we know they could have been anywhere but they chose our beautifull island
Paul Lowe one assumes is living on Mars.
St. Lucia’s crime rate is the highest in the OECS outside St. Kitts and Nevis. Barbados murder rate in the lowest of the major islands of the Caribbean only communist Cuba is lower. Barbados by far is the safest island in the region. Barbados’ population is twice that of St. Lucia last I checked St. Lucia’s murder rate was close to three times Barbados’ rate. Quite a few tourists over the years were murdered in St. Lucia but dont let the facts get in the way Paul and Adrian. Mind you unlawful killings anywhere are to be condemned.
People (Barbados people) were not so friendly outside of the pubs but it was all in all an enjoyable experience for a little more than we paid elsewhere, but we hadn’t been to Barbados so it was new.
A news item of worthy note. All is not well in paradise.
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2143640/Possible-murder-British-AIDS-expert-St-Lucia-wed-local-Rastafarian.html
We went to St Lucia for our honeymoon the 1 day we ventured out of the resort (which had armed guards) we were terrified and luckily had our driver pick us up in an hour. Even the guard in the bank had a gun and we were constantly hassled by locals in the market. One random man even tried to get my husband and I in his car and said he’d take us back to our resort. We saw people without limbs just lying by the roadside. Really upsetting. The resort was lovely…St Lucia not so much!
– Miranda, Surrey, 13/5/2012 10:21
St Lucia looks idyillic but that is deceiving. It is one of the scariest places I have been and felt very unsafe. – Chrissy, Laptop land, 13/5/2012 05:17 .
Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2143640/Possible-murder-British-AIDS-expert-St-Lucia-wed-local-Rastafarian.html#ixzz1unuJlhhH
Paul Lowe, Adraian Loveridge, Mark Fenty did you read the above and those were just a sample of the comments.
@Give me Barbardos…Which is scarier and has more murder, white collared crimes, racist; ad nauseaum, etal, St Lucia or Surrrey (England?). Perhaps a racist like you did not do due diligence to know that St Lucia or Barbados for that matter, is over 90% black. No doubt, as a racist as you are, you were not expecting to see people of coloured living the island. Your England may be a first world country (sic), but I prefer to live in St Lucia and or Barbados anytime over your Surrey…At least those two mentioned islands are God’s fearing small islands, alas, I cannot say that about your your racist Surrey.
What difference does it make whether or not St. Lucia is a scary place? In the United States of America where I reside and which is quote, unquote,
considered the safest country on the earth? I’ve never felt so unsafe in my entire life. But that’s my personal experience; I can’t unilaterally or arbitrarily ascribe my personal experience in America, collectively to everyone who lives here, that would be blattant buffoonery. But, this does not go without saying that danger is real, and evident in every society on earth. Let’s face it, in every society; there are certain areas that are unsafe for our health. Isn’t that an irrefutable fact right? Even in my native Barbados, I think twice before I decide to venture in certain areas on the island at night. Now, don’t misconstrued what I’m endeavoring to voice here. Because I’m not advancing the view that there’re certain countries, that are a little more dangerous than others, I’m sure there are. Of course, danger lays hidden everyway, even in Barbados where the nincompoop thinks there aren’t
In the early 1990s when Barbados was experiencing the new phenomena of gang- warfare, I visited Barbados on numerous occasions during that time. And to be quite honest, I felt much safer in the United States of America at that time, than I did in my native island Barbados, sad isn’t? The kind of unspeakable violence I witnessed at the crop-over festival was unprecedented in this history of Barbados. So you see, the issue of safety can change on the drop of a dime, and no country is immune form this ugly side of the human personality.
In the early 1990s when Barbados was experiencing the new phenomena of gang- warfare, I visited Barbados on numerous occasions during that time. And to be quite honest, I felt must safer in the United States of America at that time, than I did in my native island Barbados, sad isn’t it. The kind of unspeakable violence I witnessed at the crop-over festival was unprecedented in this history of Barbados. So you see, the issue of safety can change on the drop of a dime, and no country is immune for this ugly side of the human personality.
To the ignorant british people talking about people without limbs being on the street…..these people are drug addicts who rather than accept help stay on the streets and beg people for money to buy drugs……oops my bad its the same in england,,,,,,foolish
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Things go in swings and round abouts. Today St Lucia is in flavour, tomorrow Barbados will be back in favour. Both are beautiful islands with a lot to offer the weary tourist, however both have to continually look to offer a great service and all around enjoyable experience for the tourist to want to return and spread the good news about their positive experience.
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barbados felt quite safe to me 1990 to 2005. from 2005 on the safety
in barbados decreased gradually while beach/ drugvendors got more and more agressive. thats why we went into st. lucia and had never problems there exept a landslide where our car got stuck in a hold up. st. lucia is not as developed as barbados but locals are friendlier and have a positive attitude towards tourism. giving barbados another chance 2012/13 we had following experiences there. unfriendly customs officers, incompetent officials, terrible crimes ln the island including shootings and stabbings of tourists ( bridgetown, speightstown).muggings on the road to north point
excessive drug related crimes. we got harrased agressively on the beach and in town ( holetown ). many locals are frustrated as well as things get worse. => no more barbados until safety improves!