Submitted by Andrew Nehaul – Tourism Consultant
A lot has been written on this and other sites about the state of the tourism industry but unfortunately most criticism and not solid suggestions to create a vision for the long term.
It is said that to plan the future, you must know your past. I think many will agree that the two major long term successes of Barbados’s tourism were created right in the heart of the Barbados Tourist Board later to become the Barbados Tourism Authority.
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The Barbados Bonanza program was created by Denis O’Leary in Canada in the late 60’s
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Crop Over was created by Julian Marryshaw and Carol Cadogan in the 70’s .
Since then we have tried many things but none seem to have stuck. The Barbados Bonanza led at a later stage to the Best of Barbados. A program meant to keep foreign exchange at home and hotel rooms full in the off months.
The success of Crop Over is that it was created for Bajans. Tourism caught on to its tail and the rest is history. This in itself should say to all that the most successful festivals should be made for Bajans not to influence visitors. If Bajans accept and participate in an event, naturally they will tell their friends and family and this will create sustainability.
If tourism is our business, here are a few suggestions to make it good business:
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Create a system where small businessmen can rent a particular part of a beach. They would be responsible for keeping it clean, and can rent chairs and umbrellas to clients.
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Create underwater art galleries.
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Each year there should be a contest to get the best folk song to be used by the BTA to sell Barbados abroad.
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Open houses. Take this to another level and invite visitors to see houses in all economic levels of Barbados. Get more local people involved!
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Create the world’s largest outside chess competition. Boards 16 X 16 feet in as many parts of Barbados as possible and invite adults and kids worldwide to come and compete.
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Resurrect the Harbour police uniforms to be used by police in Bridgetown only.
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Create a trooping of the colour at Government Headquarters every Wednesday at 12.00
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Encourage the creation of a flying fish and dolphin sanctuary at Worthing. Make the reef and bay area a protected region for snorkelling and free diving. No fishing, and no motor boats of any kind.
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Give mopeds with max speed of 30 km the same status as bicycles (no motorcycle licence needed) . Encourage Bajans and visitors to use them instead of cars.
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Use some of the prison population to clean, paint and beautify the churches and old government buildings.
I do not want to imply that I have the solution to Barbados’s tourism woes but I do believe that together we can solve the problem. My suggestions might seem trivial but as a destination we must ensure that our tourism product and activities stand out head and shoulders above the other Caribbean nations.
Barbados Underground 
Andrew has put forward many ideas that would add to the tourism product. Some may work quite well for a small island like Barbados. It is all well and good to try to imitate larger countries with larger economies, however one must remember the scale and size of our island as well as our culture and our weaknesses. Yes we have a problem with our way of treating and communicating with customers. We need to do a major overhaul in that area first. Many are not aware on how to be a tourist on their own island. A good approach is to try experiencing being a tourist and evaluate the service given. Perhaps those who work in the service areas should be the ones to give feedback on how they were treated. This is not just for the hotel sector but for all who work in the service sector and that includes Government employees.
I left Barbados 21/2 weeks ago and as I was going through immigration in the departure area, the Immigration officer looked glum with a blank expression on his face as he dealt with me. So I said to him why look so sad on a beautiful morning like this? His response was that there was nothing to feel happy about and the conditions under which he has to work are not at all good. So I responded that he can change that by changing jobs. He then went on to state that the new rules that he has to work under now are not fair (I gleaned that might be the security checks) to him or his colleagues. It seems that many are opposed to change and that is an uphill battle to improve at any level. I restated that he can change his job and told him to have a nice day. .
Casinos will not bring more tourists to Barbados… no poll has ever been done as far as I know … but we are in competition with destinations that offer these facilities. Why leave things to chance? You are either in the kitchen and bearing the heat are you are not.
Sargeant
Sargeant that was obviously a commercial. What they did not see fit to include was the number of times they were solicited for sex and offered substances that are still to be catalogued by the illicit materials department of the RBPF .. need they mention the times that they were flashed by dread locked bums …! HA HA HA
I’ve grown to be irked by this continued talk of casinos. There is no hope for this god forsaken nation and its children. They would rather FOLLOW othe rinstead of paving their OWN way. It is frigging sickening I say…
And It is clear that the majority of participants on this site have an extremely poor knowledge on how Macroeconomics works…
Brudah-Bim
My man like you is a expert in dreamiology … Paving your own way, exactly how does that work…?
what about the bahamas they have gambling but the dividends gain doesn’t seem to show overall benefits to their economy.
@peltdown
oveworked and underpaid people doesn’t have any thing to smile about!
@BAFBFP
“My man like you is a expert in dreamiology … Paving your own way, exactly how does that work…?”
THE MOST SUCCESSFUL ECONOMIES BECAME PROSPEROUS BECAUSE THEY PAVED THEIR OWN WAY. AND I HAVE CONTINUOUSLY ADDED MY INPUT ON HOW BIM CAN DO THAT. IF YOU CANNOT UNDERSTAND, NOR FOLLOW THE CONCEPT OF MACROECONOMICS, THEN I SUGGEST YOU EDUCATE YOURSELF QUICKLY.
Calling something that is feasible “Dreamiology” is a weak cop out on trying to come up with INNOVATIVE ways to salvage a situation like Bim’s. In essence it is a Brain fart, one that seems to be gripping a nation. Yet no one else realizes it because they are all suffering from the same condition. SO until I hear you coming up with innovative ideas that are original and applicable to BIM, I will continue to simply dismiss this discourse on “casinos” as WEAK and HAPLESS THINKING…
Back to casinos.
The compromise might be to encourage certain cruise ships to delay their departure at night and allow long stay visitors to gamble onboard. 25 per cent of the revenue going to port improvements. It would also let more cruise ship passengers spend longer in Bridgetown and hopefully spend some money.
when south beach was revitalise it theme was ‘focused on culture and heritage therefore you hear the recurring theme “art Deco” the dried up and dead city started to flourish no CASINOS just the involvement of the people and a new model design to promote its culture and heritage old buildings were remodelled with the “art deco” theme in mind which would give the visitor an experience of having being in a different place today south beach is overflowing with excitement and entertainment and restaurants because a model was designed to give the tourist an experience of ” exotic experience
BTW what does the BHTA have to show for progress with all the million or possibly billions the they have collected through subsidizes by govts.they seem to have been able to collect plenty but have done so little.
Is South Beach a country?
It is part of a product which offers a diverse offering.
I think the focus is building a model or formulating a brand to attract Tourist to a destination which so far Barbados has been unable to do