Andrew Nehaul - Tourism Consultant
Andrew Nehaul

I am a concerned admirer of Barbados who reside abroad. The slowly deteriorating economic situation on the island leaves me in bewilderment because there seems to be a lot of talk and no action. Nearly every day I read in the online press about more layoffs and business closures. Most of the writers on the blogs seem to be more keen on casting political barbs at one another than of providing creative, useful comments that might make Barbados better.

My profession has always been travel to the Caribbean and in Sweden. I see movement in the right direction from Aruba, Curacao, The Dominican Republic, St Lucia & Jamaica. I see nothing from Barbados. Barbados has a lot to offer the visitor. Unfortunately, the BTA does not seem to know their targets nor do they produce relevant information for their partners who sell the destination. Families, singles, honeymooners, wedding couples, seniors – all relevant market groups.

My question is:

What is there to do for them in Barbados?
How do you lure these persons to our shores?
What price?
How do we get them to return?

I am not here to tell the BTA what to do but they should be aware of what our competition is doing.

What is our competitors doing?

Weddings & honeymoons
One destination in the northern Caribbean has taken weddings and honeymoons so seriously that they have a Director of Weddings & Honeymoons. Not only their website but also a Facebook page with contact details and a telephone number that is open from 06.00 to 22.00 to cover all time zones in the USA as well as weekends for couples who MUST have an answer about their wedding choices now. Each wedding from the USA attracts at least 50 to 100 guests. In the southern Caribbean, one destination offers all honeymooners “One Cool Honeymoon” which includes the following:

  • Complimentary bottle of champagne upon arrival
  • Complimentary souvenir gift
  • Certificate for a free night during the following year’s return stay
  • Another destination is offering a sizeable discount
  • “Companion Airfare Discount”. This offer applies to flights in all booking classes via LGW or via Hubs in the USA or Canada to the island. Clients
  • Buy one return ticket and the second return ticket is greatly discounted- see below for details
  • Weekday Departures from Europe US$777.00
  • Weekend Departures from Europe US$824.00
  • One island has a marketing offices sitting in Florida that monitors the sales of every flight from the USA to the destination. They know on a daily basis the loads of the flights.

If a gateway is not showing the performance they deem necessary, they contact their hotels, move their sales staff to the state to encourage sales and put offers in the market. This is proactive marketing.

The solution to our tourism turnaround lies in Barbados. We have creative marketing persons who can do the job. We can create the TV and radio ads required to promote Barbados – in Barbados. We have great photographers. I have seen their work which can compete with any other internationally. I have seen work in HTML & CMS locally which compete with the best. Why are we looking abroad? The best persons to help us – is us!

Lets get cracking.

On a lighter note.
If you are 55+ what is there to do after dinner in Barbados. Where do you go to dance and have fun? The Belair no longer exists. Am I ageing myself when I say Mary’s Moustache, Pepperpot, Alexandras, The Hippo disco etc? Where are the Barbadian entrepreneurs that made these places happen? The time has come to encourage them as well as the bands, the trios, the discos.

Let us have create an atmosphere that encourages good, clean entertainment and make it fun for Bajans to enjoy themselves.

The visitors will follow.

117 responses to “Our Tourism Product: Let Us Get Cracking!”


  1. @Gabriel Tackle.
    You are now apointed another Mouse keteer., your contribution falls into the same catagorie. Nothing substantial, just another rant at the government and the governance.Get out of that mindset and contribute meaningfully. Of course you will only see things myopically. Why are you not encouraging the hoteliers and the players in the tourist industry to try and help solve THEIR problems. GET MORE TOURISTS and offer them incentives to get value for their money. Diversify their products etc.
    Am I talking foolishness because I would not join you in the useless pursuit of being negative? From the time of Plato “Vox popul;i, vox dei” has been the mantra of Democracy. If you no longer wish to adhere to that say so. But the people have spoken. Get used to that!!!As I said in a previous blog,”The fault …lies not in the staars but in yourselves” Get used to that too! When the time is right what is to be will be.


  2. No David! That is where the problem is. The Government does NOT RUN THE TOURISM SECTOR, otherwise the hotel employes would be on Government payroll. There is a Tourism Policy articulated in conjunction with government some years ago. The hotel sector has to manage itself. The governments have bent over backward over the yearsto help the tourism sector. THEY have to manage their own affairs with help from government but ehey cannot excape their responsibility to MANAGE the tourist industry.When Sugar was the main foreign exchange earner the input from government in running th sugar industry was minimul. Why must it be major in this incstance/


  3. Effective action often requires correct diagnosis of underlying causes.

    How much of our current tourism woes stem from the fact that we are the most UK dependent destination in the Caricom, and the UK is in the throes of the mother of all recessions?

    If I read the table provide on another thread here, barbados has 32.4% of the uk market share, compared to st. lucias 24.5. It seems to me that for 2013 UK arrivals are down across the board, down 2.5% for barbados and 2.1% for st. lucia. If you are more reliant on UK tourists overall, a 2.5% decline in UK arrivals does far more damage to your overall arrivals than a 2.1% decline in a less UK reliant destination.

    If the decline in UK arrivals is driven primarily by the state of the UK economy, then is trying to get more UK arrivals akin to pushing on a string? Is diversification now more important than ever, and what will that take?


  4. David, I come back to the point that what is good for the BHTA is not necessarily what is best for barbados’ tourism and economy. BHTA is a lobby group representing the interests of the influential members of the BHTA. They don’t even represent the interests of hoteliers like Mr. loveridge.

    I would be most surprised if that group can lead the change needed in this new normal. They are wedded to the status quo, and they are focused on calling for subsidies to retain the status quo. The tourism infrastructure and incentive system in Barbados is more than adequate for current and new players to thrive if they get their business models right.


  5. David look at the latest report the sector gets high marks for all the areas that government is responsible for. http://www.weforum.org/reports/travel-tourism-competitiveness-report-2013
    Even in the area of price competitiveness our scores and rankings in terms of the impact of taxes have not changed significantly. The reports suggests that our hotels have increased their room prices by over 50% between 2011 and 2013. I am hard pressed to see that cost increases in Bim would have justified a 50% increase in room rates.

    David we are not saying that government is blameless, we are saying that the sector already gets a lot of government help, and tougher questions need to be asked of the private players, especially if they want more public money as they seem to be saying.


  6. While also bearing in mind that according to the real financial movers and shakers worldwide the long lasting recession/depression is not slated to run it’s course until hopefully/maybe sometime between 2018-2020, particularly in Europe the countries that Bim is totally dependent on for cash flow. I can’t tell anyone what to do, but this is more than likely the right time to rethink strategies and implement actions instead of nonstop talking and arguments that cannot hold water given current conditions. And for those who may ask, tourism is far removed from my job description, the world of business is more my forte and from a business point……the island is about to hit rock bottom.


  7. @Gabriel Tackle.
    I NEVER make false claims. And yes I was brought up with the understanding that “cleanliness is next to godliness”. Even when I had to go to the pipe to bring water my mum enforced this, so why wouldn’t I do it when I had running “hot” water? She also said “Bring up a child in the way it should go and when it is big it will not depart from it.” It seems that many of you have not grown up you are still child like in your pronouncements and adherence to childish, and childlike blather. Grow up and get on with the job of building up your country. It is yours whether the BLP or the DLP is in power. There is division in every society, and every government; Democratic or otherwise. It is time to heal, but some of you are like “live sores” there is no healing. I would recommend Aloes, it draws wounds together. Work toward the betterment of our little blessed country, don’t try to destroy it.


  8. Agreed Well well. My view is simply who better than the tourism people to rethink strategies. I have not heard anything from the sector’s main voice the BHTA that smacks of rethinking strategies.


  9. Observer……….exactly, I don’t mince words so i do believe the members of BHTA are in truth and in fact a self-serving bunch, when i see actions that prove otherwise i will change my opinions of them in all fairness to them…

  10. PLANTATION DEEDS FROM 1926-2013 AND SEE MASSIVE FRAUD ,LAND TAX BILLS AND NO DEEDS Avatar
    PLANTATION DEEDS FROM 1926-2013 AND SEE MASSIVE FRAUD ,LAND TAX BILLS AND NO DEEDS

    BHTA@ dont care any more , The fraud of selling to people on the street is over. The people know it s hard to get a 2nd home in Barbados with the Fraud they are dealing with , Yes Yes the same ministers involved in this mess. So if they cant sell no more they dont care who else does Bad, Remember they run for office to make a buck , not to help the Country nor the People.
    You know what they say ,, WHATS IN IT FOR ME? ,.. think we lie Ask
    RED JET who wanted 10,000,000 bds$ to keep it going?


  11. Alvin all that u have said has been repeated over and over again especially regarding the cizillion dollars past administration have given to the hoteliers m. the hoteliers have become a bunch of cronic complainers and lazy buggers with nothing to offer and unable to have had a plan in hardeconomic times .there only solution is to ask govt to do more and more with no end in sight . meanwhile other public sectors go unattended. with them having 11million and counting…….


  12. Real Estate is one of the worst investments right now, people worldwide are being warned to stay away from real estate investments for quite a few years to come, so stealing other people’s land and properties will definitely be out, real estate prices cannot be inflated anymore, the bubble has burst…..still gotta think of something else to keep the economy going, better start now.

  13. Alvin Cummins Avatar

    @Miller. I gather from your blogs that you are a BLP supporter. didn’t the BLP, during its last term in office explore the aspect of establishing Casinos in the island and wasn’t the answer from “vox populi” that they did not want a casino culture in the island? I don’t think your government pursued that, afterward. Didn’t the same thing happen iwith you prproposal re nude sunbathing and glbtlifestyles? don’t you have any ther proposals to increase tourism?


  14. @Obsever

    Let us make the point to you again because it is one Alvin will never understand. The BHTA is a lobby group which represent their interest of course. It should be noted that not all players in the hospitality industry are members of the BHTA. Of course hotelier are responsible to manage their business like all businesses. However you must accept that it is the sector responsible for paying the bills ie. our lavish consumption lifestyle, you must acknowledge that although we are responsible for the upkeep of the product the prevailing external conditions impacting the industry must occupy the interest of government. If the industry sinks so does Barbados to put it bluntly. It is not like we have options. It is therefore an imperative that ALL the players are strategically aligned in the national interest. This is not the time for politically polarised positions.


  15. Alvin

    Just seen what you wrote. Is Dr Love actually correct? Are you really such a plodding, humourless prat?

    To make a gardener or maid a senator, a Diocesan Trustee or award an Honorary Degree if they came up with those ideas would be far better and more noble than similar gestures to those who get them because they happen to be rich, happen to wear silly hats, or happen to be shoddy sycophants. That’s my point. Or don’t you agree?

  16. PLANTATION DEEDS FROM 1926-2013 AND SEE MASSIVE FRAUD ,LAND TAX BILLS AND NO DEEDS Avatar
    PLANTATION DEEDS FROM 1926-2013 AND SEE MASSIVE FRAUD ,LAND TAX BILLS AND NO DEEDS

    Well Well@ once the Bank have clear titles the market will move again , The problem is that the BLP NOR DLP want to sit down with the only persons that can fix this , The true land owners of the fraud titles , Just think for a moment if we are correct .
    There will be no need for UDC, NHC , and no way yet for the crooks to be in this , This is family business that grew from a small business ,
    Is that saying when you get to big the blp/dlp comes in and rewrite the books to take your company?
    The govt build so many homes for people low income, for they can bill the govt , Thats why so many houses were missing that was to be built under the BLP over 140 homes. Launder the funds in to UDC and NHC where the lawyers can do billing and open companies to get the funds not using their names.
    We can do what they do, with out robbing our self.
    more than 20,000 lots still leave over from this fraud that this DLP wanted to run a muck with Mark Cummins and the lawyers like old Ralph Thorne et al. Michael Lashley was removed from housing for he was in a fraud deal there also , We hold the deed for that, and it still look like a ghost town. So they brag how many houses they build but how many moved in?Where is the History of the deeds and it dont start with UDC or NHC , its come from 1630 to 2013 , the deed is in there some where FIND IT govt record keepers.


  17. @Obsever

    Ponder another point which supports government need to intervene in a sector as conditions require. Do you recall that post-911 the BLP had to introduce counter cyclical measures? Difference now for the DLP the poor economic conditions are protracted.


  18. If only they can get past the stench that is politics and think articulately.

  19. Alvin Cummins Avatar

    @Robert Ross.I love humour, and I can laugh , even at myself, but when I am discussing serious subjects, i have no time for trite or inane, as well as foul languaged comments. I am serious when I make my comments., and the type of language that is sometimes used in contributions disgusts me. Our country is in trouble and it is the duty of everyone who loves the country of their birth, or those wh have its interests at heart to do what they can to make life more bareable. That goes from efforts to lower the food import bill, by growing our own food, trying to encourage others to increase exports and reduce imports, to talking to people outside and encouraging them to visit ty=he coungtry ; anything to increase foreign exchange earnings. These are the things I have time for not stupid comments about someone’s personality or leanings. My only interest is my country, and I will support or criticize which ever government is in power if they deserve the support or criticism. I however will not criticize just for the sake of criticizing.


  20. LOL I rest my case


  21. well tax payers can fund another round of subsidies then. The underlying structural problems with the business models of the major players in the sector will remain and we will have another gems scandal.

    can you accept that we are getting this call from the bhta less than a decade after gems.

  22. Gabriel Tackle Avatar
    Gabriel Tackle

    @Alvin
    You and your cohorts can postulate ’til the cows come home.There will be little or no investment in Buhbaydus,(unless it’s a monopoly situation)while the Democratic Labour Party form the government.
    On the other hand let perchance the Barbados Labour Party win the next General Election and you will see investment pouring into Buhbaydus like yesterday,and it’s simply one word that makes the difference:CONFIDENCE.
    Only losers and monopolists have a look in at the Dems.The LABOUR PARTY will save Buhbaydus again and again from you deceitful DLP philistines.


  23. Observer……Barbados is not in the top 10 now competing for world recognition in drawing tourists…..BHTA knows this and are trying to see if they could feed the government a load of bull so they could leech off the taxpayers, here is the top 10 beaches that are being advertised.

    http://www.caribjournal.com/2013/02/07/the-beach-list-the-caribbeans-best-beaches-for-2013/


  24. What have the 10 best beaches got which we haven’t here and there? The Caribjournal writer doesn’t say what HIS criteria are does he? Why not? Is that then a matter of mere preference on his part or are vested interests at work?


  25. Marketing Strategies.

  26. Alvin Cummins Avatar

    @ Gabriel Tackle.
    The truth will out> You are right. The Con..men are just praying for the BLP to win (a long time on the side lines though- for after fourteen years the people can tell when Con..men are about. It is not lack of “confidence” it is just that the people with money don’t have the interest of the people of Barbados at heart. they want to feed at the trough that would be provided, at the expense of the people. Sorry..never happen.

  27. Alvin Cummins Avatar

    Remember what happpen when we got Independence? the people with money moved to Australia, New Zealand and parts far afield. We survived though, and we will survive again. Have no fear. There are only two things you can do with money. Save it or spend it and if they don’t want to spend it they have to save it somewhere and somone will be spending it for you. there is a whold world out there and there are people with lots of money out there who will invest in Barbados. time will tell.

  28. Alvin Cummins Avatar

    @Gabriel Tackle
    Only losers and monopolists have a look in at the Dems.The LABOUR PARTY will save Buhbaydus again and again from you deceitful DLP philistines
    I dare you to repeat this on the election platform the next election campaign. I will save this for you, and remind you of my dare.


  29. Why don’t you all stop the political prattle? Can’t you see how unproductive it is?

  30. Alvin Cummins Avatar

    @David
    Did I strike a nerve? How come after all this time you are now calling to a halt to “political prattle” How come you didn’t ask for stoppage when it began immediately after the election. Of course it is unproductive because instead of trying to pull together those who want to see the downfall of the country keep up the “political prattle?I will counter every one of their attempts to give the impression that my country is less than it is. I will always show them the alternative. I will always show positivity rather than negativity. If they can’t be positive too bad.


  31. @Alvin

    Your colours are very visible. Carry on smartly. You obviously don’t read BU’s comments.

  32. Alvin Cummins Avatar

    Besides, I contributed to this discussion with suggestions for the improvment of tourism. As usual people read politics into it because I will not join them in “pulling down”


  33. I am off to Martinique in a few days and I have been looking for some accommodation. I am amazed by the different types being offered. The B&B offering is huge and nicely presented. With the closure of many hotels this is an untapped area in Barbados. It is my plan to open a B&B eventually when I have certain things in place. It maybe sooner than later. I know a British woman doing well with hers and she has been encouraging me to do like her.

  34. Alvin Cummins Avatar

    I read them very carefully, but I can discern sincerity from insincerity. My colours are the colours of my country. As a “loyal son” I have to wrap myself in those colours. It is up to others to choose their own colours.
    And I will defend my country whenever and wherever it is reauired.


  35. @Islandgal

    One would have thought B&B would have been a natural progression from the CWC2007 fiasco where Bajans were encouraged to extend/remodel their properties.

  36. Alvin Cummins Avatar

    @Island gal
    good for you, and good luck. this is what I mean by positivity. You have recognized a niche and you are willing to “go for it”.I wonder, does the BHTA,The BTA or any of the hoteliers have a complete data base with our offerings to tourists; guest houses, individuals etc? Adrian keeps talking about “long-stay” visitors, but B&B might certainly attract a lot of people with smaller amounts fo disposable income. I feally wish you well, and don’t let any negatives tell you it “can’t work. Try at least. Hasn’t Minister Kellman been calling for this type of tourism “Community tourism” for some time?

  37. PLANTATION DEEDS FROM 1926-2013 AND SEE MASSIVE FRAUD ,LAND TAX BILLS AND NO DEEDS Avatar
    PLANTATION DEEDS FROM 1926-2013 AND SEE MASSIVE FRAUD ,LAND TAX BILLS AND NO DEEDS

    It seems some people out of the rabbit ass minds , Invest in the Number one Fraud place,
    You better home that your own family want to come back to see you.
    We invest in family and good friends before one red cent spend here,
    Until the mess is cleaned up and the DLP get the police and the DPP to do their work , Have some people on the Bench who was not crook lawyer to over see cases.
    Admit the wrong then work on the FIX,
    When the people and the world see there is law and order , they will return, Until then just go to the beach.


  38. Alvin

    Yes, in the spirit of this post you did contribute meaningfully early on and I’m sure everyone is grateful for that. So thankyou.


  39. @Andrew

    Thanks for your observations/suggestions but there is a reality which Barbados must confront. Our tourism product is in dire need of a refresh. In is why the GOVERNMENT has tabled the White Paper on Tourism. We continue to wait for its rollout several months after it was laid in parliament. This is a reality and not negativity.


  40. The Parish of St. John is an ideal parish to create B&B’s. There are a few people doing this many of them under the radar. The government should give incentives to encourage this type of Tourism and not look at it as an revenue maker for them.


  41. Deeds aren’t you tired talking pup, and Alvin went Combermere or George Street High? Man go reap yuh golden apples for export do.


  42. most here have agreed that the BHTA is a bunch of leeches never had an original idea and don.t have one now., Take one look at the BTI package and see how much is given to them. those in the industry who have been successful were the ones saving and investing what they had earned in the booming years and can withstand the economic shocks, the other loudmouths in the industry looking fuh a free lunch….11million and counting

  43. millertheanunnaki Avatar
    millertheanunnaki

    @ Alvin Cummins | June 15, 2013 at 1:18 PM

    And we all know that you are more than an ardent DLP supporter, so what’s the difference? What is your point?

    Forget about what the blasted BLP did more than 5 years ago on concentrate on the present; if that is possible given your fossilized mindset.

    W are simply asking you to stop with the pre-2008 attitude and submit proposals that can bolster our flagging tourism industry; even if you do it on behalf of the present clueless DLP we would not mind.

    If you are going to reject proposals- even if not nationally appealing when things were booming in the sector- what do you have to offer now that things are on the downslide, Alvin?

    We are rather seriously concerned about your growing intellectual dishonesty.

    If not casinos, nude beaches, minority niche markets or ‘herb’ legalization what do you have to put on the table as alternatives other than anti-BLP propaganda stretching back to the Tom Adams regime?

    Let us see how you can think outside the fossilized box and offer some alternatives even if unrealistically unattractive to those still frozen in time and cocooned inside a box made of dying coral waiting for a return to the good old days of halcyon “Bubaydus”.

    We do not want to hear you referring to the hoteliers and their workers or even the BHTA or BTA. They, the hoteliers their workers and the BHTA, have already submitted proposals which you rejected as coming from some BLP source and of no value and which the so-called DLP inspired enlightened people of Bim dismissed as morally repulsive .

    We want to hear from you.
    What can you, Alvin, propose to help Bim’s tourism in its hour of need without compromising your moral perfection?

    Please do not reinforce our intellectual view of you by either not responding or tangentially sidestepping the issue in hand and introducing further partisan political ad hominems.

  44. The Dummy @ Dumo Avatar
    The Dummy @ Dumo

    Mia should be the Prime Minister, she can ride a jet ski and Alfonso Dass would kiss her ass.

  45. Alvin Cummins Avatar

    @Miller
    You can’t read? I offered many suggestions on many blogs pertaining to improvements in the tourism product. Do you remember I suggested that the Powers that be in tourism; hotel managers, marketers, owners etc, for instance aim their advertising at the younger people especially around March Break, and tie it into associating it with Rihanna? That was one suggestion. Read the blogs again and you will see that I offered many suggestions. If I had golden apples I would reap them and sell them here in Canada. Jamaica does it successfully nere and in the states. so continue to laugh at me. Ja,aoica ois mpt ;augjhing they are making money; lots of it, from exporting golden apples.

  46. Alvin Cummins Avatar

    typographical error…should read’Jamaica ent laughing, they making lots of money from the export of golden apples.

  47. millertheanunnaki Avatar
    millertheanunnaki

    @ Alvin Cummins | June 15, 2013 at 9:34 PM |
    “I offered many suggestions on many blogs pertaining to improvements in the tourism product.”

    So if this administration in which your are deeply embedded are taking no note or interest in your excellent recommendations why do you think it would be interested in a bunch of disgruntled parasitic nitwits calling themselves hoteliers whose only selfish goal is to continuously suck on the already sore nipples of the government’s cow whose calf has already been weaned and slaughtered?

    Why is your administration not implementing your most invaluable proposals, Alvin?
    Can’t the people at the top read?

    These guys have to be really out of their goddamn minds to dismiss such positively innovative solutions coming from a giant of a genius called Alvin.


  48. Miller is right. It’s not, surely, about what a bunch of hoteliers can offer. At root it’s about what we are, how we see ourselves and how we want others to see us. To which he responds on all three counts, and rightly, ‘fossils’.


  49. @Alvin Cummins
    The people you refer who left after Independence are LOOKING SOMEWHAT CLEVER NOW! However, there are several contributors on this site who argue that the most undesirable Whiteys still OWN Bim. Could you peeps have a Convention or something and decide whether you would like Whitey gone OR still on Bim?

    Naturally, Whitey would NOT care either way!

  50. PLANTATION DEEDS FROM 1926-2013 AND SEE MASSIVE FRAUD ,LAND TAX BILLS AND NO DEEDS Avatar
    PLANTATION DEEDS FROM 1926-2013 AND SEE MASSIVE FRAUD ,LAND TAX BILLS AND NO DEEDS

    Enuff |@ tell us all the pup i talking , come with it,
    Until the pup is cleaned up no one will kill them self to come here.
    Let hope you not in the pup. check your deeds and your shoes.

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