Est.2007

Barbados Underground

Bringing News and Opinions to the People

Banner promoting anonymous crime reporting with a phone and contact number 1 800 TIPS (8477), featuring the Crime Stoppers logo and a QR code for submitting tips.

What Price Journalistic Integrity?

← Back

Your message to the BLOGMASTER was sent

CONTACT THE BLOGMASTER ONLY

blue-horizon.jpgOn the news last night we listened with interest to Chairman Peter Odle of the Barbados Tourism Authority who expressed that our tourist industry should not become consumed with measuring arrivals in terms of numbers but should switch to average dollar spend per tourist. He cited the example of Dubai where their tourist arrivals far exceed Barbados but our average dollar spend was considerably higher. We would have liked to ask Odle if Barbados pursues this strategy how would it change the current tourism model which we use in Barbados. We assume that the higher spending tourists would demand a certain type of accommodation, to use one example. Where would this put the smaller hotels and apartments which cater to the ‘regular’ tourist. Bare in mind that many small tourism plants and Barbadian homeowners were encouraged to invest in the tourism plant for CWC 2007. Where would Odle’s vision place these small operators?

Anyway, here is Adrian Loveridge’s latest submission which continues to expose the smoke and mirror approach on how the media in Barbados publishes statistics about tourist arrivals:

On the 24th October 2007, the Barbados Advocate published an article under the heading ‘Tourist arrivals for 2007 increases’. It was stated ‘There was a big jump in both long stay and cruise ship visitor arrivals to Barbados for the period January to July this year, according to official figures’. It added the Barbados Statistical Service (BBS) has reported ‘a whopping 18 percent increase’ in stay-over visitors for the first seven months of 2007.

It went on to state (verbatim) ‘The BBS said that the long stay during the review months increased 61,946 or 18.2 per cent when compared to the corresponding year for 2006′. On seeing the Advocate report, I requested on two occasions from the BBS, confirmation of these figures. Both requests were acknowledged (numbers 35 and 36) but after 9 days, they have still not sent anything to confirm they were in fact correct.

I have now extracted the actual official figures for the period January – June (6 months) and this show an increase of 7,794 long stay visitors or a 2.7% increase, totalling 295,742 persons.A far cry from 402,209 long stay visitors that the Advocate stated for the seven months including July.

Did we really have 106,467 long stay visitors in that single month?

Independent journalist, Pat Hoyos, has today published online at the Broad Street Journal, that in FACT the real increase in long stay visitors to Barbados for the first nine months of 2007 was only 2%. Mr Hoyos also quite rightly points out an increase in visitor spending, but this figure is almost meaningless unless it is inflation adjusted.Again, in fact, unless it is, it simply means visitors actually spend less rather than more.

I believe, the Barbados Advocate, should print a retraction of this total erroneous and misleading article.

Adrian Loveridge

We encourage Barbadians to debate the issues, especially stakeholders in the tourism sector. Maybe Adrian can encourage some of his partners in the sector to logon to the blogs to have a debate on the industry which is the lifeblood of our country.

Related Stories

Adrian Loveridge Reviews Tourism Statistics And Concludes~”I’m puzzled, really puzzled

What Is A Reasonable Time To Wait For A Government Department To Respond?

 

Discover more from Barbados Underground

Subscribe to get the latest posts sent to your email.

61 responses to “What Price Journalistic Integrity?”

  1. Linchh Avatar
    Linchh

    No Name, I admire your persistence. Before I reached a conclusion that the Central Bank generally publishes false statistics, I would need to see more evidence than the tourism data we have been discussing.

    If I came to such a conclusion based on sufficient examples I would be very carefull about the purposes for which I used Central Bank data, in the future. I believe that this can be a problem for people in the tourism sector like Adrian Loveridge.

    This applies even more strongly to the general pronouncements made by the Central Bank. I think that the public needs to be alert to these problems.

  2. No Name Avatar
    No Name

    Mr Linchh I have no problem with your comments, But let me ask you this.

    Why did, of ALL people the Bank Governor not catch this unprofessional nonsense and HOW DO WE KNOW that more of her voiciferous comments and predictions have nor been based on false or inaccurate statistical and other information?

    Had Patrick Hoyos, Adrian Loveridge not got on top of this the matter the nonsense in the Advocate and coming from the good Doctor would have been accepted at face value. And to make matters worse it was supporting the Nations 4.3 % economic growth!

    I am not suggesting it was deliberate I do not know, but I do know this, in most countries the Central Bank Governor and staff is very careful with research, numbers etc before going on the public record as Williams did only to be made look like a fool. That is the point!

    And if BSS can put out such crap for statistics on tourism does no one care if maybe the same quality statistics are not being put out on other important things like crime, poverty, etc?

    If a faux pas like what Williams the Advocate and BSS pulled a few days ago was to have
    occurred in a developed Nation I suspect heads would roll and an investigation launched into how it could happen. Don’t you?

  3. Linchh Avatar
    Linchh

    No Name, I think that we all agree that the information provided by the Advocate in its October 24 2007 edition was totally incorrect. I would not have been aware of it since I do not read that Newspaper. I stopped doing so about 5 years ago, because I had become disgusted with the poor quality of its journalism. I was able to confirm, however, that the figures the Advocate obtained from the Barbados Statistical Services did not say that TOTAL VISITOR ARRIVALS for the seven-month period of January to July 2007 increased by 18% compared with the same period in 2006. The Governor of the Central Bank did NOT refer to any such increase. Obviously, persons in the tourism sector would have questioned it, as Mr. Loveridge questioned the Advocate’s figure if the Governor had done so.

    This brings me to the the 3.1% growth figure that the Governor quoted. As I tried to explain, previously, I still am not sure whether she was referring to numbers of visitors or what the visitors spent.

    As to the reliability of the economic information that the Central Bank publishes, we should remember that it is produced by its Research Department which is staffed by highly-qualified and experienced individuals, who I am sure are very concerned to portray an image of professional integrity in the conduct of their work. Everything that they publish is open to scrutiny by equally qualified individuals all over the World, who are likely to be even more alert to data inconsistencies than the general public of Barbados. To my knowledge none of these people have ever questioned the reliability of the Central Bank’s data. Indeed, I can say that that they have bet their money on it.

  4. Adrian Loveridge Avatar
    Adrian Loveridge

    Linchh…
    So there is absolutely NO doubt, this is what the Advocate printed on 24th october 2007.

    ‘The Barbados Statistical Service (BSS) has reported that there were 402,209 stay-over visitors for the seven month period, (January to July), a whopping 18 percent increase’.

    It went on to state ‘The BSS said that the long stay during the review months ( January-July) increased 61,946 or 18.2 per cent, when compared to the corresponding year for 2006’.

    The Advocate quoted the Barbados Statistical Service as the source of its figures.

    Subsequently, we have established these figures are totally incorrect and absolute nonsense.

    I understand that the 3.1% ‘real tourism’ growth the Governor of the Central Bank referred to, is growth in tourism earnings.

    This figure is ONLY significant if it has been adjusted to reflect the rate of inflation.

    If it is NOT, then in FACT our tourism earnings are DOWN, not up.

  5. No Name Avatar
    No Name

    Mr. Linchh I give up. You continue down the path of blind faith but do it with caution.

    The FACTS as you are so sure they are coming from highly qualified people I am not prepared to buy into as I have seen too many of these situations in my years here in Barbados.

    A Nation that allows little transparency about anything and defend Major cover ups is a Nation with a lot of secrets.

    Whether the 3.1% the Governor referred to is real tourism growth or growth in tourism earnibgs. I find neither worthy of being described as “Robust”.

  6. No Name Avatar
    No Name

    Adrian Loveridge

    It seems 3% is a good number when it comes to measuring any form of tourist arrivals in Barbados.

    I see Noel Lynch saying cruise passenger arrival is just under 3% more than last year as of the end of September 07. But he expects that to increase another 3% unless I am reading it wrong given next years winter season.

    Here is what baffles me. Considering the thousands we were told last winter Jan to April to see CWC on cruise ships and living on cruise ships how come the increase to the end of September this year is just under 3%. Seems awful low when considering the glowing numbers being talked about when CWC was in full progress.

    What have you and Patrick Hoyos have on this.

    I hope Noel saw that Cruise Ship Companies have just uncreased fares as did airlines because of high oil prices and has factored that into his arrival predictions

  7. Linchh Avatar
    Linchh

    Adrian Loveridge:

    I do not understand the purpose of your last post, since you are merely stating conclusions on which both you and I agree. No Name’s comment is of a different order, since he appears to challenge my ability to determine whether information published by the Central Bank is reliable and or not. To that I can only say that if he were aware of my background, including my qualifications and experience when he made such a statement, I would be deeply offended.

    My only argument regarding the Governor of the Central Bank’s analysis of the performance of the tourism sector in 2007 is that there is some ambiguity in the manner in which she has presented her data. Further, even if I accept the figures that she provided, I may still disagree with the language that the Governor used to describe the performance of that sector, because I feel that it presents a more glowing picture than I feel is justified. From your postings, and as a participant in the tourism industry, I would expect you to be skeptical also, of such an approach because you are intimately aware of deficiencies in that industry, and you have strong opinions on how they could be corrected.

    I think the general public of Barbados is capable of distinguishing between the reliability of statements made by the Central Bank of Barbados and the Barbados Advocate on matters relating to the performance of the economy. However, it would be a matter of grave concern if that newspaper incorrectly published information provided by the Central Bank, and when notified of its error, refused to publish a correction.

  8. No Name Avatar
    No Name

    Mr. Linchh

    Here is why you and I seem never to be able to agree.

    I am not attacking you or your credibility or profession but here is my concern.

    You like me say you were not happy with the embellishment or glowing terms the Bank Governor used. Yet you are defending her and saying the people of Barbados has the sense/intelligence to know the Governor would not use false statements.

    My point is how can you be so sure? Why did she embellish an industry whose performance is well below what is expected and she should have known this all along from her statisticians and advisers. Was it a “political” statement? Am I not mistaken in saying and I could be that the Bank Governor has not too lauded the perceived success of the CWC? Yet this Government after months has given the public not one damn report about what impact if any the CWC has had on our economy. Why? Does it take that long in a small island like ours to compile this information?

  9. No Name Avatar
    No Name

    Mr. Linchh

    I sent an earlier reply that has not been posted. So let me try again.

    My comments to you are not personal or attacking your professional vocation. Let that be clearly understood.

    Like you, my concern is, why would the Bank Governor find it necessary to embellish her comments about tourism performance when having no facts to support the glowing report? Was it a partisan political statement?

    I also find it difficult to understand why she did this using an industry that is hurting to support the glowing economic performance of the Barbados econonmy? These are not things credible Central Bank Governors do!

    You say she is above reproach and the Barbados people have the sense/intelligence to know this. Well here is one Barbadian I would prefer you not to include, as I am not gullible.

    I also think but stand to be corrected on this that the same Bank Governor lauded the perceived success of the CWC. Yet we Bajans are yet to hear a peep out of the Government about any numbers they have that support one way or the other if CWC was a success or not. I find that totally unacceptable, as a small Nation like ours should not have such complex numbers that it takes a year to tell taxpayers if the millions of their money spent on CWC was wasted or not!

    Sue Springer of BHTA/BTA has gone on the public record to tell us how much good the CWC will do for the long term good of our economy. Where did she get her information from to say such a thing?

  10. Linchh Avatar
    Linchh

    No Name:

    you said: “You like me say you were not happy with the embellishment or glowing terms the Bank Governor used. Yet you are defending her and saying the people of Barbados has the sense/intelligence to know the Governor would not use false statements.”

    I have neither defended nor attacked the Governor of the Central Bank. What I said was that I think the general public of Barbados is capable of distinguishing between the reliability of statements made by the Central Bank of Barbados and the Barbados Advocate on matters relating to the performance of the economy. I admit that I may be wrong, but that is still my opinion.

    I see no point in debating the issue.

  11. Vaeltaja Avatar
    Vaeltaja

    A quick response to No Name from the 6th of November.

    My points were quite simple.

    1 – people involved with tourism on the ground had not noticed any major growth back in January 2007

    2 – An awful lot of effort and money had been put into making things ready for the Cricket World Cup

    3 – What impact did that actually have on tourist numbers?

    4 – and certainly I will bring some sterlign with me when we return. If any of the readers here have recommendations as to good scuba diving operators around the Caribbean coast then I would be grateful for their advice. I am a beginner – and am hoping to swim and observe turtles in the sea rather than simply on the surface!

    I am also very keen to hear family tales of Bajans and their own family histories – esp if they go back more than a few generations

    I am sure that the good people at the WordPress.com will pass those on to me.

The blogmaster invites you to join the discussion.

Trending

Discover more from Barbados Underground

Subscribe now to keep reading and get access to the full archive.

Continue reading