A leading local hotelier reminded me recently of a column I wrote several years ago naming an incredible 37 hotels that had closed their doors and it raised a commonly held but frequently ill-informed public view, that the tourism sector attracts limitless concessions. The reality – apart from a chosen few – is something quite different. The simple response is
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I sincerely hope that as we are already in the month of August, with less than 60 days before the new Government imposes the additional ‘departure’ or airline tax of US$70 per person outside the region and US$35 within the Caribbean, that they will shortly clearly communicate how this levy will be collected. Not surprisingly, in the absence of any
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[Barbados Underground] It is now a full month since the new Government imposed the mandatory room levy that our cherished guests have been asked to pay. How effective has the additional tax collection been and will we ever know what sort of overall revenue has been successfully collected? Or how many the yet unregistered accommodation providers have so far evaded
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The announcement that the Charlotte flight will now become a daily non-stop service from December is great news. While the Greater Charlotte area boasts a population of over one million if you include Charlotte-Concord-Gastonia or the NC-SC Metropolitan Area (MSA) that number soars to over 2.52 million people, according to a 2014 census. Charlotte Duncan International Airport (CLT) opens up
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Submitted by David Comissiong, Concerned Citizen To continue to build on the beaches of Barbados or not to build — that is the question! (And whether or not to start the practice of constructing towering buildings along the coastline of Barbados — that is an associated question!) My own personal position is that we have already done enough building on
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Tourism, like so many other sectors relies on efficient telecommunications. Bearing in mind the ongoing deficiencies that plague our largest provider, it seems mind boggling that they have announced price hikes before these numerous problems are effectively addressed. Our own experiences include waiting almost two years to finally have a fibre optic connection – every possible excuse was proffered during
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The following entry by Citizen Advocate Afra Raymond should be of interest to civic minded Barbadians and in particular the BU family. He continues to prosecute the pillar issues which underpin the arrangement supporting the introduction of Butch Stewart’s Sandals to Trinidad and Tobago. In Barbados the models being used to promote the Hyatt and Hilton projects are not dissimilar.
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