While there have been a very few notable exceptions, I believe there is a great deal more our local based companies could do to ‘smart partner’ and create joint promotions to help stimulate our tourism economy.
Those exceptions include one of our banks offering cash back on credit card usage which accumulates during the year and eventually paid back to individual’s accounts each November. Recently a leading wine merchant partnered with a popular south coast restaurant on its re-opening and during an entire month offered a small discount with a complimentary glass of sparkling wine to encourage local bookings.
Despite the most recently announced potentially devastating 32 day non-essential travel lockdown from our main market, the United Kingdom, our Government has steadfastly chosen not to stimulate domestic tourism through fiscal incentives or any other clearly obvious measures, leaving many of our restaurants and ancillary tourism services floundering for survival on their own in apparent discarded isolation.
For some of us, the rationale, or lack of it, is almost impossible to understand.
While any reduction in direct taxation, like the lowering or removal of VAT (Value Added Tax) or more recently imposed additional levies have some inevitable miniscule consequences for the administration, what is the alternative?
If the population at-large do not spend their available funds, then clearly other negative factors will kick-in.
These include loss of employment, business failure and inability to collect other statutory obligations like NIS contributions, land taxes and the VAT payable on certain utilities, supplies and services.
Similarly, if private sector suppliers are not replenishing our hospitality sector at optimal levels, then they in turn suffer possible ramifications, or in the very least will suffer a much longer road to recovery.
Simple examples could include a wine-of-the month, where specific vintners support local distributors to proffer a particular product, which in turn gives the consumer an attractive price across our restaurants, while at the same time increase brand awareness. Other possibilities include notable ice cream manufacturers wishing to grow market share could also follow suit.
None of this is rocket science of course and all it takes is a little creativity and medium to long term vision. It also represents a minimal risk for all involved, at negligible actual cost to those participating.
While one particular bank has been mentioned, others should also play their part. Few credit cardholders could possibly ignore the virtually obscene interest rates for late statement payment hovering around the low to mid- twenty plus percent’s, especially unconscionable during our current economic challenges.
Sadly, there appears to be no effective consumer banking regulation since Governments debt default, so once again, the public is expected to pick up the loss of anticipated profits through higher interest rates and increased fees. This, while experiencing a further reduction, or in some cases, an almost total absence of service delivery and when branches are being closed without any consultation and thousands of customers disadvantaged.
Pfizer’s Vaccine ?
Boris Johnson’s optimism…
Monday 9 Nov 2020 5:19 pm The prime minister has told the nation it ‘cannot rely’ on hopes of a breakthrough vaccine to fight Covid-19 and urged people not to become complacent during lockdown. Speaking at a No 10 press briefing on Monday evening, Boris Johnson told the nation that ‘if and when’ pharmaceutical company Pfizer’s vaccine is approved, ‘we will be ready to use it’. But the PM insisted ‘we haven’t yet seen the full safety data’ after Pfizer’s CEO today confirmed their vaccine has proven to be 90% effective.
‘I can tell you that tonight that toot of the bugle is louder, but it’s still some way off, we absolutely cannot rely on this news as a solution,’ he added. ‘The biggest mistake we could make now would be to slacken our resolve at a critical moment.
He warned that England’s R rate is still above 1 and that coronavirus deaths are double what they were a month ago, as he urged the nation to continue following Covid-19 guidelines. Speaking as England is half way through its first week under a second national lockdown, Mr Johnson said ‘we cannot let our enthusiasm run away with us’. He added: ‘Irrespective of whether a vaccine is on the way or not we must do everything possible to bring the R rate down.’ The prime minister said he hoped the Government’s mass testing programme, Operation Moonshot, would be the immediate answer to driving down infection rates. Last week Liverpool became the first city in the country to start a pilot of the scheme, with half a million residents encouraged to get tested weekly even if they don’t have symptoms.
Biotechnology progress…
The incident at Sandy Lane reinforces the importance of training all the actors in the service delivery chain.
Here is a tourism minister sitting on the fence in an allegation against the Irish-owned hotel. In typical Bajan style, she is claiming she is not in a position to know the facts.
What normal governments do is hold an investigation: talk to Mr Tempah, talk to the hotel, talk to the security officer involved, talk to the member of management involved – and reach a conclusion.
In the meantime, whatever the outcome, government should be warning hotels and other foreign employers in Barbados that discrimination in any form is not only against the law, but will be seriously dealt with.
But, as long as the pound or Greenback reigns supreme, then the treating of black Barbadians – and other black people along with them – will remain the norm in a corrupt, decadent and amoral society.
Note to Bajan journalists: his name is Tinie Tempah and he is British.
What about the other interpretation that these were a few poorly trained employees. Does Sandy Lane have a track record of the behaviour as described?
“What about the other interpretation that these were a few poorly trained employees. Does Sandy Lane have a track record of the behaviour as described?”
++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
Poorly trained???
Of course the staff, especially the managers, have been trained to be ‘nice’ to the customers or guests.
That’s a basic requirement, even a sine qua non, in any part of the hospitality industry.
It is also called ‘Common’ decency to fellow human beings.
He is not the first ‘well-off’ black person to be treated that way in the still apartheid little Barbadoes.
That ‘Uncle Tom’ attitude among Bajan blacks working in the hotel industry goes way back to the 1970’s when black Americans used to visit little South Africa and encountered the same treatment.
@Miller
We have a problem with poor service across the country. It is why NICE was implemented. Do you recall the incident with world famous cricketer Desmond Haynes that occurred at the defunct Barbados Beach Vikllage years ago?
David BU
I understand where ‘you’re coming from’ as it relates to your comment about poorly trained employees. However, Miller is correct re: “That ‘Uncle Tom’ attitude among Bajan blacks working in the hotel industry goes way back to the 1970’s….”
Based on my experience, I don’t have any doubts Tinie Tempuh was racially profiled by security guards. And, we’re dealing with Sandy Lane.
I’ve mentioned on several occasions that Black people roaming hotel properties, sitting by the pool, visiting the restaurants or going to their rooms, always draw some level of suspicion from some hotel employees, especially security guards, because more often than not, they immediately assume they’re not ‘tourists.’ Why? Even to this day, several people are of the mistaken belief, TOURIST = WHITE PEOPLE or any ‘fair skinned individual with straight hair.’ As such, Black guests are often profiled as being on the property to hustle white men or women, sell drugs or steal.
The BHTA, in association with the Tourism Ministry, should launch an investigation into the matter.
@ Hal,
We are missing the point with this story. Tinie Tempah with his dark skin is not the type of customer that Sandy Lane would be interested in.
Irrespective of his fame and money. These type of people are not your “typical” Sandy Lane customers.
Sandy Lane would never have known that this young black geezer is both famous and well connected.
This government will have to accept that this story is huge and will undermine Barbados throughout the black world.
Not so long ago we had an incident with the Nigerian Juventus footballer who was almost imprisoned in Barbados for breaking our Covid-19 rules.
There is a pattern here: blacks are not welcomed in Barbados.
@TLSN
Bajans at home are missing the point. It is nothing to do with money, as you point out, but with r ace and skin colour. You know from your London experience the number of muscular black men told by little white girls they do not want black people in their nightclubs and these goons go about the job with alacrity.
In little Barbados where jobs are hard to come by can you imagine what these idiots will do? Instead of telling the Irish people where to go,
Having said that, my wife and I were once invited to dinner at Sandy Lane by a UK bank director (he had always threatened to when he discovered I was from Barbados. He was cricket mad and thought Wes Hall was from Heaven). The staff were very polite, but not because of me but because of who I was with.
My worst treatment was at the cage box that was Almond in Holetown, some short Napoleon type security man. He did not even want me to park in the empty car park. Ten of the guests staying there I had invited to Barbados.
@ TLSN
I forgot to mention. In future I will actively dissuade any non-Barbadian black person I know from visiting Barbados, unless they arrange their own accommodation.
It is the new South Africa and they love it. Where is the talkative, photo-obsessed president when she is needed? Is she too busy send a message to Trump, or Biden or Trudeau?
This story is nothing to doubt. Security guards in Barbados have great fun lording it over black people and not just in the hotel industry. In stores, supermarkets, the ports, the banks whites and blacks are treated differently. I have had to lodge complaints on two occasions and the culprits were suitably reprimanded. In two other cases, I put the guards right myself. I simply do not stand for it.
Always I ask them the question if their attitude would have been different if I were white.
Some Bajans are brainwashed. They believe whites are superior. It is something we need to work on as we know from whence it came.
But first, we must acknowledge that we have a problem. The minister has not so far moved us forward towards this end.
There is a pattern here: blacks are not welcomed in Barbados.
@TLSN
It was at Almond when I saw BDF soldiers armed with sub-machine guns walking on the beach and posing for pictures with holidaymakers without police accompanying them. I mentioned this a few years ago on BU and someone said he did not believe it. I still have the pictures.
My friends still talk about it, the time when a black Bajan security guard tried to stop me from entering Almond to visit them (all white and English). They still think it was funny.
@Artax
What happened at Sandy Lane is a âsocial complexâ read socialization issue, nothing to do with racial profiling. The blogmaster himself has been subjected to harsh scrutiny when visiting functions at the restaurants and it required a level of confidence to make the matter go away. The clientele of Sandy Layne is mainly high colour people and as a high end hotel there is the job of screening âundesirablesâ from the compound. In this instance an overzealous security guard got it wrong. The people at Sandy Land responsible for customer service will make sure this does not repeat, it guards its reputation.
Of course we have the coggers on the blog who sees this as Barbados being racist. BS!
(Quote):
Some Bajans are brainwashed. They believe whites are superior. It is something we need to work on as we know from whence it came. (Unquote).
+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
Some??? You mean the massively vast majority!
Have you ever noticed how black Bajans are so “well-behaved” in the presence of white people compared to when they are cussing one another?
But what can you expect from a totally brainwashed group of people who believe that some Pagan Jesus is God and is a white man living in the sky?
(Quote):
The clientele of Sandy Layne is mainly high colour people and as a high end hotel there is the job of screening undesirables from the compound.(Unquote).
+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
What do you mean by “HIGH COLOUR PEOPLE”?
Is this another ‘clear’ indication that there people of ‘low colour’ even though there might be filthy rich?
Wasn’t the black guy a guest of the same hotel and who was received at the GAIA by a luxury vehicle and ‘black; driver, having been checked-in at the Front Desk or Reception Hall in the first place and not viewed as an undesirable intruder?
@Miller
You know what the blogmaster means which is NIT what you are suggesting. People become conditioned if regulars are of a certain ilk. It does not make it right, it calls for better training.
I seem to recall that at the height of the pandemic, there was talk of looking locally and to other islands so as to keep the industry alive. But even during this pandemic, there was the occasional story of someone having limited beach access, unable to rent beach chairs or to use beach facilities.
How do you determine that someone is undesirables just by looking at them. This is really the problem. One of the plank of screening undesirables is that if you are black you are likely not a tourist and if you are white you are most likely a tourist. Racism, no matter how explained is racism.
Tourism is an industry that cannot afford negative publicity and everyone, even the ‘undesirables’, have a camera and a Facebook page. Hotel in Barbados cannot just rely on naked racism to be a part of the screening process. Some simple steps like having gyms on the second floor or having to show your hotel room key to access the gym, or billing for gym use to a room and then refunding the cost of the gym use when the visitor is checking out can take the ignorance out of our screening process.
The Minister was in damage control. She cannot attack the tourist, she has to be careful what she says about the hotel, and she to protect the industry. Her gentle warning to hoteliers must be commended.
@David November 10, 2020 8:30 AM
“Of course we have the coggers on the blog who sees this as Barbados being racist. BS!”
++++++++++++++++
Sadly, it is you who are spouting BS on BU this morning. Hal Austin is correct and you are sadly, utterly wrong.
Barbados is a deeply racist society. Tourism is the latest incarnation of the plantation social structure, with the Black Sandy Lane security guard being both trained and socialised to play the part of the enslaved Black “drivers” who were the first line of discipline and enforcement on the plantation.
I am disappointed that you, David, are so blind to something this obvious. But I should not really be surprised, Black freedmen in 18th century Barbados also used to accommodate themselves with soothing words to pretend that their collaboration with the White supremacist power structure was OK.
I understand why Lisa Cummins has to measure her words carefully to protect vulnerable jobs, but you have no such excuse… just tell the unvarnished ugly truth.
What happened at Sandy Lane is a âsocial complexâ read socialization issue, nothing to do with racial profiling. The blogmaster himself has been subjected to harsh scrutiny when visiting functions at the restaurants and it required a level of confidence to make the matter go away. The clientele of Sandy Layne is mainly high colour people and as a high end hotel there is the job of screening âundesirablesâ from the compound. In this instance an overzealous security guard got it wrong. The people at Sandy Land responsible for customer service will make sure this does not repeat, it guards its reputation….(Quote)
Is this real? Black people are not racially profiled at the Ritz, the Dorchester (where the BTA held at least one of its dinners), Claridges, the Savoy or any other top hotel or restaurant in the UK. British racism is more discreet.
Race-tinged tourism is part of what the chairman calls the Barbados brand; it is part of having in folklore that beaches are opened to the public, when in reality some West Coast hotels cordon off their beaches. Even now the so-called tourism minister cannot offer a proper apology, in case she upsets the Irish owners of Sandy Lane.
It is one reason why the obvious heritage tourism does not find currency with the authorities, since it means bringing young black people to Barbados, especially those without pedigrees.
We either live in the real world and admit our limitations, or continue with a putrid, reactionary Bajan nationalism that speeds us on our way to decay.
Barbados is a failed nation. It will end in tears.
@PLT
We do not expect the minister to come out like rabble rouser; all she had to do was to apologise to Tinie Tempah and launch an investigation – either by tourism officials or the police. Is that too much to ask?
@Peter
Have you ever heard of Black guests at Sandy Lane being meted with this treatment. The blogmaster knows of what he speaks, dont have to rely on press reports to understand what happened here. Sandy Lane places a lot of resources in training, top class training too. What we have here is an outlier situation.
@Hal Austin November 10, 2020 9:08 AM
It is not too much to ask, but it is in her interest to make the story disappear from the news cycle as quickly as possible.
To accomplish this she should have had the BTMI issue a proper apology right away, including thanking Tinie Tempah for bringing the incident to public attention. Then she should have leaned on Sandy Lane to issue a proper apology as well, not the mealy mouthed excuses that they wrote, and twist their arm to include some form of restitution like 2 free nights when Tinie Tempah visits again.
@David November 10, 2020 9:16 AM
“Have you ever heard of Black guests at Sandy Lane being meted with this treatment.”
++++++++++++++
Yes, of course I have. It has happened to relatives of mine.
@David
This is not rare at Sandy Lane or at many other places in Barbados. It is routine. The only difference with this incident is that Tinie Tempah is a celebrity, so that when it happens to him it is news… when it happens to someone I know it is simply another day ending with ‘y’.
@Peter
You may have the last word on this, the blogmaster has posted enough.
These are just questions
Is the problems with the hotels or is it the attitude and ideas of black Barbadians towards other blacks as often seen by the hostility directed towards blacks Barbadian overseas.
Have we educated our tourism workforce about the fragility of the product? Of the effect of dad publicity, disrepect, silly assumptions and increasing crime?
Are we locked in the idea that every Black American (unless seen on TV) and every African is catching their tail and unable to stay at a major hotel chain? Is it that the stereotypes that we have in our minds are damaging our product?
I am not a fan of tourism, but as it is the only game in town, I would suggest the following.
Education: There probably should be a video highlighting what is acceptable behavior towards tourists (in reality towards all people) from the time their plane touch down at GIA until the time their plane take off again. Don’t be too general; make certain that every person who comes in the contact with the tourist is represented.. taxi, zr, valet, desk clerk, maid, Bajan, restaurants …… . Show different races of tourists, not just white faces. Managed the product.
@PLT
Tinie Tempah was a guest. Or doesn’t that matter? He was a fake? Bajans do not apologise; they obfuscate, find bogus excuses, try to explain the inexplicable, even fabricate. They see an apology as a weakness. It is cultural.
@PLT in the past I have raised questions about BU and its political and moral misdirections, and this is a further indication that either the chairman does not understand race relations (is he black?) or is fronting for some state body. If he is speaking honestly, then woe betide. Which? You decide.
This is an interesting article, if you can ignore the evident prejudices and pettiness of this Nigerian writer who visited Barbados with her extended family.
https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2019/aug/09/barbados-black-man-country-african-traveller
“Some Bajans are brainwashed. They believe whites are superior. It is something we need to work on as we know from whence it came.”
@ Donna
You should’ve included some Bajans living overseas as well. They seem to believe by marrying white women ‘they have arrived’ and it gives them some special privilege to be obnoxious, arrogant and condescending to their own people, while showing contempt for the land of their birth.
There’s a saying that, no matter how hard one tries, ‘you can take a Bajan out of Barbados, but you can’t take the Bajan out of him.’ So, whether they live here or overseas, a Bajan will be Bajan….. and will exhibit his inherent characteristics where ever he lives. I’ve read on BU where one ‘pseudo psychologist’ fabricated some nonsense they call a composite set of behaviours, to differentiate between their behaviour and that of local Bajans, which, by the way, are similar in every aspect. Surely you’ll agree that attitude could be considered a ‘symptom’ of the so called ‘Bajan Condition.’
Although WARU and I may be at loggerheads from time to time, she is at times correct relative to how Black people treat their own. It seems as though many of us view life as though we’re still on the plantation, where house slaves, being close to their white masters and mistresses, believe they’re superior to the field slaves. Hence, we view the UK, Canada and USA as the plantation house and Barbados the plantation.
@ The OGazerts November 10, 2020 9:25 AM
Education: There probably should be a video highlighting what is acceptable behavior towards tourists (in reality towards all people) from the time their plane touch down at GIA until the time their plane take off again. Don’t be too general; make certain that every person who comes in the contact with the tourist is represented.. taxi, zr, valet, desk clerk, maid, Bajan, restaurants …… . Show different races of tourists, not just white faces. Managed the product.”
+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
Such an education programme has been ongoing since the 1980’s (or even earlier) when the slogan “Tourism is our Business, let’s play our part” was the main chapter in the little red book of Bajan tourism.
@PLT
You are right. Seven years and five months ago I took a group of about ten Barbadians – black, Latino and white – to a well known South Coast restaurant, which markets itself as upmarket, in real terms it is a middle market restaurant.
The manager or head waitress (a middle aged woman that the others were deferring to) avoided my eyes as she brought the menu and wine list and concentrated on talking to the white male Bajan. That was fine, she obviously knew him. The other black Bajans were also well known.
On my way back to the table from the gents she came up and, uninvited, whispered some rules on table manners. I had to decide whether to tell her to bugger off, thank her, or just ignore her. I chose the latter. Was she nervous in case I embarrassed her?
Bajan racism comes in all forms and there is an assumption of privilege by association. It has always been the problem with the domestic servant.
@Hal Austin
BU is just a fragment of the wider Bajan society and so it reflects all of the usual Bajan dysfunctions, sometimes in concentrated form because of the anonymity it affords. Witness the overt White supremacist racism of some who post here from behind the curtain of a pseudonym… witness also the servile obeisance to the same White supremacist racism from several Black people who are regulars here.
But this is not a peculiarly Bajan problem, it exists throughout the Black diaspora; it is particularly acute however, in those societies with a history of plantation enslavement. It is a very slow process for such societies to emancipate themselves from mental slavery as Bob Marley so eloquently urged.
Artax,
Anyone who is raised from birth to adulthood in Barbados, especially those from a certain generation would have been presented with the white supremacy view. Some of us were rebels and rejected it instinctively (I am at least third generation rebel) and others would have assimilated it to various degrees.
Sometimes it requires serious self-examination to determine into which category we fall. Some of us are very mixed up.
P.S. As a pseudo-psychologist myself, I must defend my “profession”. Much can be deduced by careful observation and common sense. This is probably what was done by the first “psychologist” before it became a profession.
@PLT
I am not sure how familiar you are with the black diaspora, but your observation is off key. I suggest you do a bit more reading about black Brits, a small part of the diaspora. You were too young when you left.
That is the reason for the regular clashes between young police and young black people. Neither side wants to defer.
I find myself supporting an industry that I was never in favor of.
These stories have been with us for ages and cannot be allowed to continue. We are failing to correct known flaws in our product.
Hotel management can offer apologies, but those who come into direct contact with tourists need to be made aware of how their behavior can impact the industry. The type or traveler has changed, but has our mindset. Perhaps our guards are still chasing “beach bums” and therefore insulting some guests.
We put all of our eggs in one basket and must now make an effort to protect that egg. We have an uncomfortable bed. We have to figure out how we can get a good sleep in this bed.
@Hal
I know a bunch of Black Brits… both of Caribbean and African ancestry. I’ve also travelled to Britain for extended periods as an adult. As I stated above, the problem is most pronounced in those places with a history of plantation enslavement, which means it is less acute in Africa, Britain, Canada and Europe, but I still see it in all these places very clearly.
In case it is misunderstood. Tourism, dead or alive, is with us. This is a baby and bathwater issue.
I am not preaching kowtowing to anyone. I am preaching respect for all tourists, which includes blacks.
Changes are required. Where do we start?
Have a great day Barbados!
@Hal
An interesting non sequitur… almost 10% of early arrivals from the UK on the Welcome Stamp visa are Black Brits, way in excess of the % of Black people in the British population.
TheO,
I, at one time oblivious to lingering white supremacy, had no objection to tourism. I have since revised my opinion. But until we can do better, and I believe with determination we can, we have to give it our best shot. The plaster has to be ripped off this sore. Now is the opportune time to move forward.
@PLT
This confirms what I have said about the potential of heritage tourism. I have young people in my family and in-laws who will like to spend a couple weeks in Barbados occasionally, and they do. They also go off to other countries which their friends’ families came from.
I am afraid the returnees generation is dying out; those who wanted to live in Barbados, already do; those who will like to visit occasionally, already do.
Our tourism officials have a psychological blind spot when it comes to black tourists (travellers). It goes right across the entire economy.
There are black newspapers in the UK. I have never seen an advertisement from the BTMI or any tourism body in any of them. Tells you all you want to know.
TheO
We only have one basket to put all our eggs in
@ David
You were subjected to “harsh scrutiny” upon entering the hotel. The difference is, Mr. Okogwu was already on the premises as a guest. You can’t use “there’s the job of screening undesirables from the compound” as an excuse, because security officers are usually stationed at a hotel’s entrance, with officers patrol the beach and compound. Therefore, to enter the hotel, one would have passed security at the entrance. Yet, Black guest are still challenged by security guards patrolling the property.
This behaviour is not synonymous with Sandy Lane, but several other hotels in Barbados. So, you’re essentially suggesting there are “overzealous security guards” at those properties as well. It is not a customer service issue, but one involving management, including the chief of security.
I found Sandy Lane’s statement on the issue very interesting and, in particular, the comment re: “The luxurious five-diamond resort also pledged to review the impact of its “significantly enhanced” security presence, which the hotel claims was assembled in light of the COVID-19 pandemic.”
What it seems to be saying is, Sandy Lane’s guests are not normally racially profiled. They had to increase the number of security officers as a result of the “COVID-19 pandemic and the Ministry of Health and Wellness protocols.” What occurred was the security guard’s fault because too many of them were on the property.
@Artax
It will be harder to manage in a dominant black population. White people stand out, it makes it easier to make judgement calls. There will always be overzealous employees. We have to discuss the specific incident and avoid conflating with phycho social issues. That said the hotel will learn from this incident.
@David
It is a monumental error on your part to look for intent in seeking to correct racist behavior. Racism in a systemically racist society like ours has very little to do with intent. Racism is structural and systemic here… it in ingrained into deeply entrenched attitudes and assumptions in both the Black and White populations. If you are just looking for intent that means that you are intent on ignoring more than 90% of racism.
Racism is a psycho-social issue. You cannot discuss racism and be pretending to be avoiding psycho-social issues.
(Quote):
The clientele of Sandy Layne is mainly high colour people and as a high end hotel there is the job of screening undesirables from the compound.(Unquote).
Do you notice how there is an ugly thread in our conversation. We need to flesh out exactly what words like “high color” and “pedigree” mean.
Some still live in our ugly past. We cannot hold security guards and maids to a higher standard than those who should know better.
We may have to produce a similar travel guide specifically for blacks should they choose to visit Barbados.
https://www.history.com/news/the-green-book-the-black-travelers-guide-to-jim-crow-america
@ PLT100% correct
The Blogmaster is singing loudly for his supper today. Trying to snuff out the bad press. He knows fully that these types of occurrences are routine in Plantation Barbados. This is not an isolated incident. But PR must be done and narratives must be shaped.
David your duplicitous slip is showing, again.
Stuspe
The blogmaster will not be enticed into your âthrowing shade choirâ..
The competition ?
“CASTRIES – St Lucia welcomed the first flight from Canada over the weekend since it closed its borders to international travel on March 23 in a bid to curb the spread of the coronavirus, COVD-19.
The St Lucia Tourist Association (SLTA) said that an Air Canada flight arrived here from Toronto ,operating at 99 per cent capacity.”
https://www.nationnews.com/2020/11/10/air-canada-returns-st-lucia/
We too love to paint everybody with the racism brush. We are like an alien on some far away planet that knows nothing about planet earth and started receiving the first Planet Earth TV signals all in black and white and believe everything is black or white until years later they start receiving color TV before they realise the truth.
It’s called Profiling. Sure there is racism out there but every single person whether they want to admit or not has this feeling they can tell just by looking who can afford their hotel or restaurant.
I have stayed at more topnotch 4 and 5 star hotels in the space a few years during one of my previous jobs than most people on the blog have stayed or will stay at their entire life so I know what I am saying when I state hotel, restaurant and shop staff will always treat you differently until the moment you open your mouth and start to speak because they will hear your accent and tag you as a tourist.
Dress like the locals and keep your mouth shut and see what happens. They usually treaty you like no one special and try to be careful around you until word about you gets around about if you have money or not. I used to have fun playing the is this guy a guest or con trying to pull a fast one in their place and pull out the tourist accent when they started to look scared.
@Crsitical
Your experience seems very limited. Where are these top notch hotels you stayed at where you were profiled?
Sandy Lane should train its managers and supervisors on how to treat black people who visit their hotel.
Management should have adequately addressed the situation after Tinie Tempah was stopped by the security guard.
@ Hants
Barbadians should think seriously of expelling the Irish from the island. Let them go back to their potato farms and drink their Guinness and eat their boiled beef and cabbage then vomit all over the place.
Steuspe
@Hal Austin
It is limited compared to persons like you and PLT and a few others but more varied than most persons.
I have been to most countries in the Caribbean except Jamaica and places on the US eastern and western seaboard both big cities and small towns. None in Europe nor UK thus far and I don’t think I will see them either since I don’t see myself doing that type of job again as I can’t stand to travel anymore.
I don’t recall any racism against me as far as I could tell. My personal observation is they classify you as one of three types
– this person like they can easily afford the bill
– behaves like they accustomed to this type of lifestyle
– has no business being here.
How they classify you and the policy of that business towards people that don’t belong shapes how they treat you.
(Quote):
Sandy Lane should train its managers and supervisors on how to treat black people who visit their hotel. (Unquote).
++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
Why black people? What’s so different about black people that requires special training?
The staff at that hotel have received the best training (top notch) available to satisfy the requirements of the clientele of that 5-star hospitality establishment.
Money has No Colour but carries a large symbol saying ‘Only the Best will do’.
The man should have been treated just like any other guest who can afford such an expensive hotel.
The managers and security workers involved should be fired immediately.
@ Critical
You are right. I travel in the Caribbean on a Barbados passport, and every country I visit they say ‘welcome’ you are at home – with the exception of Barbados.
My experience in the Bahamas, both Nassau and Grand Bahama, can be the reverse of the Sandy Lane Irish experience. Sometimes I have to ask the staff to serve others.
On one occasion I was staying on Paradise Island and told a member of staff I was from Barbados and she ran off to the kitchen and brought out the chef to say hello.
In Barbados it is a different experience. All they want to know is where you are staying and when you are leaving. On a couple occasions I said on arrival to the immigration officer ‘I am at home’, and asked what do you mean by leaving and they drift in to a Bajan strop: “Man, answer the question.”
It is a level of sophistication found at Sandy Lane and Almond and at Cave Shepherd. I no longer shop there.
Steuspe
@Hal Austin November 10, 2020 3:59 PM
Nothing can compare to Paradise Island, that is an out of this world experience based on the massiveness of the whole place alone. I went over for lunch and they have by far the largest buffet I have ever seen with food as far as the eyes can see. I’ve never been to Las Vegas or Dubai but my guess is only places like that rival the Paradise Island experience.
We have to learn that unless you know for sure somebody does not belong, you treat everybody the same way until you know otherwise and if you are unsure, treat them as if they look lost and not someone skulking about the place looking to do mischief. Goodness knows I have gotten lost and wandered around too embarrassed to ask and could have used a ‘Sir, you look lost’.
@ Critical
I love the Bahamas. Have you tried the street conch? Years ago we had conch in Barbados and, like the sea eggs, we over-fished them until they all vanished.
The blogmaster loves the fried dolphin to be found at Oistins and Sixmens.
@Hal Austin November 10, 2020 4:38 PM
I not a big seafood person and I could not stand it for too long, Bahamians know nothing bout seasoning and all they do is squeeze a little lime on it when they eat it. They do love their conch bad. We love for fish from street fish can’t compare.
The cultural idiosyncrasies is also extremely interesting. When you travel, interact with the local people and get to understand and compare histories to see where all the differences come from.
That is why I say that if done right, the future of tourism is the AirBnB type accommodations where you get to directly interact with the locals on a much more natural level than the hotels where they wants to control the experience.
@ Dullard November 10, 2020 8:11 AM
There is a pattern here: blacks are not welcomed in Barbados.
If I may add “at most Hotels on de Island”. We are so dam stupid it’s pathetic.
@ Critical
You are right about the culinary cultural differences between the various English-speaking islands. It is one of my frustrations that our academics and journalists do not explore these differences more. I now see Trinidadians claiming cou-cou.
Even differences across generation within single islands, ie Barbados. One of the first ones that hit you in visiting various Caribbean restaurants in the UK are even the terms used. Some say rice and peas and others say peas and rice; a small difference, but interesting. Rot is also differ.
In Barbados we put sugar in our dumplings (in fact, Barbadians put sugar in sugar, thus the high type two diabetes rates), in other islands they do not. Even the way we cook and bake differs from previous generations. It is a part of our evolving cultural history I will like to see explored.
I remember when a Trinidadian called Mr Chow first started selling these exquisite dishes called rotis in Nelson Street back in the 1950s, now rotis are considered part of our national dish.
Like you, I am not keen on Bahamian cooking, but they are very sociable people and that makes up for the shortcomings in the kitchen.
A good article just above. Now this…..
https://barbadostoday.bb/2020/11/14/staycations-helping-hotels-survive/
It is obvious that some are more welcoming than others.
//www.instagram.com/embed.js
https://barbadostoday.bb/2020/11/14/tourism-reboot-2/
“The minister said tourism now requires cross-disciplinary teams and skills development that transcend marketing, hospitality and hotel management.
Cummins disclosed that Government was planning to launch a new virtual marketplace with the aim of taking full advantage of the tourism industry.”
I think the Minister understand a part of the problem as she is willing to increase the use of technology in the product. However, in all of her pronouncements that I have seen so far she has never addressed the deficiencies often mentioned when our tourists are not “white”.
It seems as if the tourists have changed, but our notions of who is a tourist remain constant. As part of the transformation she needs to try to change our fixed mindset about tourists. GOB should create a video which deals with all stages of interaction with a tourist from port of entry to port of exit, from the lowest hotel employee to management level, from passers by on the street to restaurant, banking, zr vans, taxis, beach vendors… a re-education for every Bajan.
Our videos are often filled with white images which is a part of the problem; Let’s have a variety of tourist faces in the video.
https://www.instagram.com/tv/CHk1skgHAzy/