Decline in Trinis travelling to Barbados

Decline in Trinis travelling to Barbados

Sean Nero
Published: Guardian
Monday, August 31, 2015

Vicky Chandler, director for Caribbean and Latin American Region at the Barbados Tourism Marketing Inc, left, with Andrew Welch, president, Trinidad Hotels, Restaurant and Tourism Association, and Stacey Hutchinson, Barbados Tourism Inc. PHOTO: SEAN NERO
T&T remains the largest regional source market of visitors to Barbados, although statistics are showing a steady decline in T&T to Barbados travel over the past three years.

Vicky Chandler, director for Caribbean and Latin American Region at Barbados Tourism Marketing Inc, said since 2012, travel has been dipping. Experts in Barbados say this is due to the slump in the global economy. Still, figures tabulated for international travellers placed T&T as the island’s fourth largest source market.

In a T&T Guardian interview, Chandler said the Crop Over Festival was still a major draw for T&T nationals travelling to Barbados. “In 2014, Crop Over generated BDS$96 million. Unfortunately, the Trinidad expenditure numbers are captured under the Caricom head count. However, in 2014, Caricom nationals spent on average USD$181.84, ranking them as higher spenders on average than visitors from the United States and Canada for that period,” she said.

“This year, like the past several years, we have seen an increase in the synergies and collaborations between private sector Barbadian companies and T&T companies, as well as our linkages between our culture ministry and your ministry of the Arts and Multiculturalism.”

While interest in travel to Barbados usually spikes at the end of July—the end of Crop Over with Grand Kadooment—Chandler insisted that festival was more than just the Carnival. She explaineed that the Carnival aspect is a much larger event which spans three months and focuses on history and heritage.

“When it comes to the party element and the actual Carnival the bonds are closer. We have lots of companies from Barbados that are involved in events at Carnival (in T&T) and likewise I believe there are several T&T companies that are involved in our Crop Over Festival. At the end of the day, we cannot be static with what we do. You may as well lie down and die! Everything has to evolve and we look at the synergies and maximize the positives in it all.”

She added: “I think the synergies will continue to grow and the collaborations whether it is our musicians being part of your Carnival. We had Machel (Montano) here leading an entire section in a mas band. There is nothing wrong with it. It’s a natural evolution of how people interrelate and play together. Because of the entrepreneurial spirit in your country, which is great, T&T has a huge presence in Barbados when it comes to commercial stuff, so this is just another aspect of that.”

Chandler said the partnerships are good for the region and expressed surprise it didn’t happen sooner. “If it is working, then there is a reason for that. There is a demand for it. It will reach the point naturally when it is enough or it has to evolve again. T&T is the number one market for visitors to Barbados regionally,” she said.

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