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Tourism officials hope to be rid of amber listing Article by by Marlon Madden Local tourism officials are warning that Barbados must be placed on the United Kingdom’s “green list” for travel as soon as possible if the island is to cash in on any noticeable uptick in tourism activities this summer. This comes as officials report continued subdued tourism arrival numbers and visitor spend, which has been the case for the past year, as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic. The UK remains Barbados’ number one source market for long-stay visitors. Barbados, although having one of th...

Tourism sector gets adjustment to BEST Article by by Marlon Madden Some areas of concern within the $300 million dollar scheme put in place to help prop up the tourism sector over the next couple of years have finally been tweaked and approved. This disclosure from Barbados Hotel and Tourism Association (BHTA) officials, who, while opting not to give specifics, said they were satisfied more of the organisation’s members will take advantage of the programme. The Barbados Employment and Sustainable Transformation (BEST) programme, which was introduced in September last year, has two...

‘Overhaul’ pending for tourism’s BEST plan Article by March 11, 2021 The scheme put in place to help tourism business maintain jobs and upgrade their facilities will now undergo periodic reviews, tourism officials said Wednesday. But the officials remained tight-lipped about the changes that are on the horizon for the aid programme, known as the Barbados Employment and Sustainable Transformation (BEST). Chairman of the Barbados Hotel and Tourism Association (BHTA) Geoffrey Roach said the overall proposed changes to the BEST plan were “still a work in progress” si...

Further updates coming to protocols Article by March 11, 2021 Barbados could soon be making special provisions in its protocols for individuals who have been vaccinated and want to visit the island, Chief Medical Officer (CMO) Dr Kenneth George has hinted. He gave the indication on Wednesday during the first quarterly general meeting of the Barbados Hotel and Tourism Association (BHTA) for this year, held under the theme Tourism: Surviving Beyond COVID-19. “Soon from now Barbados will be updating the protocols on the Barbados Tourism Marketing Inc’s website that will ...

Social Share Barbados’ long-stay visitor arrivals plummeted to 93 per cent but tourism officials remain optimistic the industry will rebound. Chief executive officer of the Barbados Hotel and Tourism Association (BHTA), Senator Rudy Grant, painted a gloomy picture of the current situation in a media conference on Thursday, revealing that hotel occupancy had fallen as low as six per cent in January. The BHTA executive attributed the dramatic drop in numbers to several factors associated with the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic, but he said based on reports from tour operators and other tr...