The hotel industry in barbados is not indigenous enough, most hotels try serving the same menus that the tourists are accustomed to in their country, when they then compare the price with what they pay in their country some believe that they are being robbed. We talk about “staycation” yet when a local goes to some of these locations, they are not treated in the same manner as the foreign hotel resident. We need to have a total different outlook at the tourist industry in barbados and look to marketing the country better with more involvement from local and the hotel owners must stop thinking that Government owe them everything and they just sit back and live large, many hotels is allege to owe massive bills for water, natural gas and property taxes, and drive big luxurious vehicles and live in similar houses, some in gated communities while average bajans who work hard to keep this country afloat have their facilities disconnected. The same thing happened with the plantation owners many years ago, they fleeced the then government, ran up massive bills, then pulled out. This mendicant attitude has to stop.

What needs to happen is this … Scout.

Theories about changing management practices, Civil Service reform and NISE targets will not, in the short time we have before the SHTF, be of any use whatsoever.

The USA ( and so Barbados) may have to devalue more ( 20% already in the last four years), very soon.
Although price gouging may be happening, this devaluation has not been fully recognised as a major driver of our own inflation.

Our government, it seems, is happy to allow this devaluation to continue and give some relief to our external debt repayments.

Falsely believing they can use NIS funds as their bottomless piggy bank to finance current expenditure.

Some time soon there must come a reckoning, and admit we are living beyond our means.

There are ways for us to ride this downturn, but maybe our pride will baulk at the most obvious solutions.
But maybe swallowing some of our pride is preferable to Haitian mudcakes.

To those who say we have no natural resources, I say rubbish, we are lucky to have the cachet of one of the most desirable tropical locations in the world, and in that perception lies our short-term salvation, but maybe not in conventional short-term tourism.

No more of the rock should be sold to foreign investors, it is too precious to our survival, literally and socially.

Barbados needs critical action this year, not think tanks, consultants and other delaying bodies.

Action now for major results next fiscal year.

tbc

Charlie,

Just on a point of correction, the person that raised the Jubilee issue is a not a hotelier, but Ralph White who manages Island Safari.
BUT as a hotelier, I agree with you. I recall being honoured to attend the Independent Awards at the Governor General’s house where Jubilee or some sort of ‘juice crystals’ were served as fruit juice only to find the catering company was owned by a former President of the BHTA.
Pine Hill had an amazing opportunity to market regional fruit juices with their associated company in Belize, but two of their latest products only contain 10% and 15% fruit
and one has added sodium. Can you imagine trying to sell a ‘fruit juice’ with added salt at the same time daily tv ‘ads’ are telling you salt is a killer?
We would love to be able to purchase REAL fruit juices locally on a commercial basis but the only way we can currently do that is to buy South African products.
In our experience visitors want to consume LOCALLY made/produced items and if that cannot be done then at least REGIONALLY made. Every time I go to Dominica there are thousands of mangos that have fallen off treees. Surely, someone is capable of turning those otherwise wasted mangos into pulp and supplying them to Pine Hill!

With the cost of commodities rising I think the better thing to do is to process the Dominican mangoes in such a way as to significantly increase the shelf life and put them in storage … ja ja

Straight talk

The Central Bank Governor two weeks ago said that he and people in his field “CANNOT help you… that they have no advice to give at this stage”

What do you say to Barbados going along with the rest of the Caribbean and pegging to a non-US influenced REAL currency like the Yuan or indeed a basket of commodities? Inter regional Politics aside, is this technically possible?

It is amazing that only in Barbados Restaurants and hotels serve fake juices. Go to Martinique, ALL restaurants serve fresh juices of whatever fruit is in season. Tamarind, mammy apple, golden apple, mango, passion fruit, tangerine, pineapple, orange, all locally grown. It is a big business there. Hotels and restaurants need to stop pissing pon peoples foot and telling dem dat it raining. Jubille juices taste like liquid plastic to me.

@ Adrian

I meant locally grown not imported. This is the type of industry we need to supply the local market and will reduce our import bill.

@ BAFBFP,

I think it’s a non- starter now.
We are in such a state that our local gurus need the dollar’s devaluation to sort our own debt out, letting the US take the flak.

David i think you misunderstanding the article. it not that they been using an invalid classification since 1981.

SBI said it entered the juice under the classification 21007 following a “classification opinion” it received in 1981. However, Sinckler said that classification no longer existed.

What should have been the next question was when was the classification discontinued. Seeing that they didn’t ask that the fourth estate seems to be lacking more now.

That is does. I have been trying to so see when the 21007 code was discontinued in the harmonize system. that said under the current code is should fall under 2009.12 or 2009.19. The one thing that we all can agree on it the price going to rise when it hit wholesale and retail.

What is Adrian doing at Peach and Quiet that other small hotels are finding it to do?

Adrian have you ever been asked by BHTA or BTA to speak about the model you use? Has is ever been case studied?

Adrian Loveridge
Yes much money was squandered on GEMS so should this government squander more money on other hotels? The buck has to stop somewhere or the financial hemorrahaging will contiue
islandgal246
In the short term Barbados can purchase fruit from Dominica, this was suppose to happen at the start of this administration’s term in office, the first shipment is still waiting for an ETA. However, with the large amount of slippage within the Scotland district and the large amount of waste land with big “river tamarind” trees growing, if these trees were replace by fruit trees Barbados would not only become self-sufficient in fruit but we would be able to export also, check the many mangoes, tamarinds, golden apples that fall every years and wasted. Somebody needs to start an industry in pulping these fruits and marketing them.

http://edis.ifas.ufl.edu/mg328

Scoutie I really serious. I got dirt in muh veins.

islandgal246
Ten years ago I wuld have told you “let’s go for it”, however, I’m now retired and am just willing to enjoy the rest of my senior time in the company of my wife. I’ve decided , what I have I’ll protect and learn to live off the hard work and what I was able to save. I’m sure some-one will take up the offer. For the longest time I was trying to convince the powers that be to do this project but no-one took me on, imagine Pine Hill buying bajan cherry pulp from Brazil and so many wild trees growing where valuable trees could have been growing and we talking about foreign exchange. I smile whenever I hear this nonsense, the problem some-one is getting big and they don’t care about the country; it is an individual thing.

BAFBFP | February 25, 2011 at 7:57 AM |
“Second Street in St James is finally designated Whites Only .”

Please elaborate for the benefit of us overseas Bajans.
Holetown is one of my favourite places in Barbados.

BAFBFP “of the typical Crumpton Street variety!”

I am of the Crumpton Street variety but not typical.
My Crumpton street brother at the BTA needs to do some firing and hiring but he is not a ruthless bastard like Hants.

bajeabroad

Tourism is too important and capital intensive a project to expect its proprietors to be masters of all the various skills required to make it work. Adrian Loveridge has the distinct advantage of being a product of his own target market. If he knows what has to be done to please him, he will be well on his way in succeeding in pleasing his target market. He is unique in Barbados. The rest could use as much help as the GoB could provide, after all if they must sink funds in aimless bureaucrats, of course they must then be capable to spend some funds on those who could actually help the industry earn foreign currency…!

Islandgirl

I am interested, but it is not the monkeys that I am afraid of, it is the other kind of primate, the one that will get increasing more desperate as the Bajan dollar value falls in the next few months …!

Hants

“Whites’ Only” Second Street has become. White Bajan girls are pimped by White Bajan Boys to very high paying West Coast patrons. The presence of single Black males is not good for business and is velly velly much discouraged, “by any means necessary…!” The proprietor of the major offending establishment, an ex-Broadway super star, is in very tight with the RBPF, after all he helps with their band and does a number of freebees for charity. As I said my man, natural selection …!

He mussee did readin BU.

Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development, Dr. David Estwick, has urged Barbadians to return to planting their own home gardens.

Sure you are serious,

But you are a romantic, a female romantic even, a dicy combination when it comes to investment propositions … You did say that you live close to the area that you have in mind however…

Luckily I, like many everyone else will need to find areas to offload excess savings, and quick. I am assuming that to contact you I must use your web-site. What is this thing about subscribing?

Is Nationnews following the BU lead?

“Barbadians need to get back to basics and grow their own food.
This was the number one suggestion from most of the Nation’s online readers who were asked what consumers can do to cope with the rising cost of living.”

Good advice anyway because Barbados will soon not be able to continuing importing food and your yard and fron garden will be your supplier of fruit and vegetables.

Since when is Earning Foreign Exchange for the Barbados retail freeloaders the same as “almost any business”?

bajeabroad

Now here is the thing. In Trinidad as in many other parts of the Caribbean, water is heated by placing a very small inexpensive device just before the shower head. No real impact on household electricity usage. Truth is, it is a far more sensible option to the thousands of dollars spent in the infrastructural cost that is s solar heater. But what the heck, solar heating is a job creation industry, so I have no problem playing my part. Is it a green activity..? When one considers all of the manufacturing processes and materials and fossil fuels utilized in the transport of the goods and services etc, hmm hard one to determine. Solar tech does NOT and will NOT earn foreign X for Barbados.

Now do hotels NET foreign X for Barbados … the jury is out. But with the enforcement of the buy local produce as you suggested, yes the industry would become more meaningful to the countries development. So the obvious opportunity for Government is the Quid pro quo … Government continues to subsidize the marketing of the property only if the property operates as suggested.

The major point that I will not back away from is that the earning of foreign X for a COUNTRY requires a variety of resources. To expect to find the entire skill set with in one household or indeed an entire pooling effort in the geographic space the size of Barbados is a bit of a stretch. If Government insists on creating civil service jobs then let some of the bureaucrats serve the major good in support of the Tourism trade. The marketing ideas that you have mentioned are fine. Maybe the BTA should prepare a formal environment for such activity to take place.

bajeabroad

Ah hah … I sense a merging of minds here. I will not challenge the difference in energy cost between T&T and the rest of the Caribbean. The fact that it is a subsidized commodity is new to me, unless you are referring to the fact that Trinidad energy producing plants do not buy state oil at the “Export” (OTC) price. What might be of interest here is that Trinidad is under no obligation to sell any CARICOM country at the NYMEX price. They could negotiate much better deals with their neighbors but prefer not to do so in fear of attracting criticism from the opposition on giving away their national asset.

Now here is the thing. If Barbadians were to use the small attachments on their shower heads (were they to be made available in stores) they would hardly see a change in their electricity bills. The heating is done as the water exits the tubes; there is no heating of a large volume of water in a tank somewhere…!

Our head of the Biggest Supermarket chain in Bim said in a town hall meeting last week that the energy costs to the chain is a whopping three percent (3%) of his overall costs … THREE PERCENT! If energy costs go up further we are going to start the panic thing when the percentage hits five …! ja ja …

A Babbling radio host, in his perpetual brown nosing ignorance drew the public’s attention to our Government juggernaut employing some of the brightest and best that is on offer. What a roll. I am easily with you on that. But Government does use foreign X to pay for the services of overseas talent that we expect to deliver on a promise. They fail miserably sometimes, but the response here is try and try again, since other than for Loveridge himself, I doubt whether it is possible to find what is really needed on the island …!

Well Anthony you know that if was ever made common knowledge the WHOLE solar powered industry gone to shite … another industry destroyed once again at the hands of parasitic importer …!

@Hants: “Why don’t the Solar Energy companies design systems that heat water and produce electricity.

How?

Photovoltaic panels are already produced “elsewhere” for far less than we could produce them here.

And because the basic flat-plate collectors produced locally cannot heat any fluid beyond approximately 80 degrees centigrade, water does not change state into a gas, and thus cannot drive a turbine.

(One could, of course, use another fluid for the process of driving a turbine, but I question how many would be comfortable using, for example, heated methyl acetate around their homes….)