Tourist Predictions Not Hitting the Mark

Adrian Loveridge – Hotelier

If there was a single phrase to describe this winter tourism season, I think it may be great expectations. Despite all the wild speculation which included ‘this November has been one of the best Barbados had seen in a while’ being made by tourism officials, the month in fact ended by recording the lowest long stay visitors for any November during the last 11 years. It also heralded 20 consecutive months of stay over visitor decline.

As this is the latest in a long line of unfulfilled predictions this year, is it time for our policymakers to focus more attention on what can be achieved, rather than drift into the realms of prophecy and conjecture. I wonder just how much longer we can go on trying to justify rewarding failure. So much is riding on the performance of our tourism sector over the next 120 plus days leading up until next Easter Monday on 22 April, not only in terms of occupancy, but in the critical role of trying to claw back lost revenue from the last almost two lean years.

In our key market, the United Kingdom, traditionally there is a booking surge when tour operators step up their promotional activities on Boxing Day. But one of the largest travel companies, Thomas Cook, pre-empted its competitors by launching a massive sale, two weeks prior to Christmas to tempt the bargain hunters into commitment for summer 2014.

Bajan Sandals Experience

Adrian Loveridge – Hotelier

Just over a week ago, my wife and I experienced a staycation at Sandals Casuarina.  An enormous amount of discussion has taken place concerning the extraordinary concessions granted to the Sandals companies and as I was not personally familiar with the product thought it was important that I tasted what is often referred to as the Sandals ‘WOW’ factor first hand.

Despite the website [Sandals] at the time showing that the hotel was fully booked until the middle of March 2014, I managed to reserve a room online for the dates of my choice and pay in full at published rates by credit card. Bookings are processed by yet another company, Unique Vacations Inc., based in Florida and an email confirmation was sent. Noticeably absent were any taxes or corporate information, including office address or contact details.

Having a few queries prior to our stay I emailed Adam Stewart, the CEO of Sandals Resorts International (SRI) and within minutes he responded personally apologising that because he was currently travelling, he had passed my concerns over to the General Manager (GM) of the hotel. Still within one hour, Josef Zellner, the new GM not only answered my initial questions but went on to monitor our reservation and ensure a seamless check-in.

Understanding Concessions

Submitted by Anthony Davis

Minister of Finance Chris Sinckler

“A sweetheart deal between the Chefette chain of restaurants and the previous Owen Arthur administration has led to a fall-off in the revenue intake of Club Caribbean Airport Lounge.”

page 7 of “Barbados Today”, dated 19 November, 2013

My, my, my. The pot doth call the kettle black!

I wonder if the Minister of Tourism was standing in front of a mirror when he stated: “That is not bad policy; that is simply sinful,” and “it is really a low-point, in my view, of how governance is carried out in this country.”

Is that your mirror image, Mr. Minister?

That more applies to the sweetheart deal you and the Minister of Finance gave “Butch” Stewart – with a special waiver for food and beverage which not only set a precedent for the hotel sector in Barbados, but will deprive Barbadian food producers, and manufacturers  of much of the money they worked so hard to earn to keep themselves, their families, and their employees from dropping through the cracks that have opened up in these harsh economic times!

Thumbs Up to Hawks Cay Key, Thumbs Down to Largo Bay Marriott Beach Resort

Adrian Loveridge – Hotelier

I cannot think of many, if not any, more important aspects of the hospitality industry than constantly listening and responding to your guest’s comments, whether negative or positive. The customer is king. I recently stayed at two ‘4 star’ hotels in the Florida Keys. The first, Hawks Cay was excellent and met every expectation. The second, a major branded hotel, fell dramatically short and I thought that it was only constructive and objective to report our experience.

Sadly, while staying at the hotel management did not respond to concerns raised and as I had pre-paid in full, weeks prior to arrival, felt we did not have the option of moving to another property. Even though the nightly rate was close to US$200, I made the mistake of booking a standard room, largely based on the individual property’s website description which, included ‘153 oversized rooms’ and ‘most with balconies’.

It transpired that well over 40 rooms did not in fact have balconies and to describe the two rooms we saw or occupied as being ‘oversized’ must border on misuse of the English language. There were other issues, including the level of noise during the night, non-smoking areas that effectively were not and sliding doors that would not lock.

Death Sentence to Local Ownership of the Tourism Industry in Barbados

Submitted by DGS

Minister of Finance Chris Sinckler

Minister of Tourism, Richard Sealy

While the humble, honest Barbadian makes his way to work early every morning and comes back tired, yet happy after a long day’s work, he is unknowing of a serious potential threat to his lifestyle that demands immediate attention. Other than the Civil Service, the tourism sector is by far the largest employer in Barbados, generating the majority of foreign exchange used by local businesses to purchase goods and services abroad.

For several years the Barbados Hotel and Tourism Association (BHTA) has been relentlessly pleading with the government to lower duties on certain items that would ease the cost of doing business in such a competitive industry (after all it is one of the only industries in Barbados that competes internationally, not domestically and imports foreign exchange). The reasons for this are due to such harsh competition with islands such as Aruba, Dominican Republic etc it is very hard to compete price-wise when we are being taxed on goods and services, which attract little or no duties in other destinations.

Pure Beach Resort, Boom or Bust?

Submitted by Due Diligence

A rendering of Pure Beach Resort & Spa

You will probably think I am flogging a dead horse; but since PURE Beach Resort has all the signs of being a dead horse, here goes anyway. I happened on a new  PURE Beach YouTube video posted recently. It is simply a new and expanded version of previous 3D renderings. There is also an October 2013 investor presentation. Clearly the promoters are still active flogging PURE Beach to unsophisticated “investors”.

I was going to post a comment to one of the BU Harlequin blogs   but thought it might not get much attention because the original post was too long for BU readers to take the time to read and digest. In your opening comment to the original blog you said the local press has since highlighted this matter. There having been no further reporting in the local media, I think it timely to resurrect the matter. I believe that you referred to the September 4 story in Barbados Today $500M snag: Luxury St. Philip tourism/residential project delayed by financial problems.

I recently also came across the original message from the management of Pure Beach Resort & Spa assuring their “founding members” the venture remains “attractive and viable” and that new joint venture partners were coming on board and additional sources of funding being secured”; which had apparently been leaked to Barbados Today and was the basis of its story. An April 24, 2013, letter to Dear Founding Members is posted on the website of M. Montgomery Insurance, of Bradford, Ontario.

The Caribbean Must Become the United States of the Caribbean Tourism Style

Caribbean Journal Editor-in-Chief Alexander Britell explores the future of Caribbean tourism with Vincent Vanderpool-Wallace, former Secretary General of the Caribbean Tourism Organization, former Minister of Tourism of the Bahamas and head of the Caribbean Tourism Development Company. The two discuss what’s working in tourism and how wider regional cooperation could grow tourism revenues – Compliments of Caribbean Journal

Need to Maximize Tourism Budget in the US

Adrian Loveridge – Hotelier

Frankly I have never understood the seemingly illogical apportionment of the Barbados Tourism Authority (BTA) annual budget and the ways it has been spent across our principal tourism markets. The United States stands out as a vivid example. In the five years 2003-2007, we welcomed 654,281 American long stay visitors. For the same duration 2008-2012, that number (661,646) grew by a minuscule 7,365 persons or an increase of just 1.1 per cent, which barely represents an incremental annual average of 0.2 per cent.

During that same second period, our neighbour, St. Lucia, recorded a 4.6 per cent improvement of US arrivals. Hardly spectacular, but with all those throwing their hands up in the air, while shouting APD (Advanced Passenger Duty), recession, global economic meltdown and all the other possible excuses, is nothing to be ashamed of.

What continues to be puzzling is why ‘we’ continue to spend the lion’s share of the BTA budget in the US market, without being able to achieve a meaningful return on ‘our’ investment. More overseas offices, staff, airline subsidies, the legendary per diem and other expenses, than any other major source, but little or nothing to show for it! For instance compare the exact same period with Canada, which grew by 35 per cent (87,339 extra arrivals) or an average of 7 per cent per annum. The imminent withdrawal of American Airlines on the New York route is just one part of the problem. Yes! Our policymakers are scrabbling around trying to find alternative carriers to meet the loss of seats, but what exactly is the plan to fill them?

BTII: Investment and its Importance to the Local Economy

Sen. Darcy Boyce, Minister of State in the Ministry of Finance, Investment, Telecommunications and Energy

Positioned on the periphery of local politics, the independent is always forced to chuckle. The idea that Senator Darcy Boyce was CEO of the Barbados Tourism Investment Inc (BTII) between 2004 and 2007 reporting to former minister Noel ‘Barney’ Lynch is reason enough.

BU will continue our remit to shine a bright light at the underbelly of Bajan society much to the annoyance of the establishment. Politicians on both sides have become very comfortable issuing vacuous promises to a largely forgiving electorate. The coming of transparency legislation indeed!

All agree tourism along with attracting investment are critical  to a vibrant local economy. The agencies responsible for overseeing related activities are expected to bring a good game.  Have a look at the BTII website which has… committed [itself] to this development and invites investors around the world to evaluate our investment opportunities and work with us in profitable and beneficial projects. You too can benefit from our success by taking advantage of tourism investment opportunities on the island…Local media has credited the BTII with leading the agreement to purchase Heywoods property known as Almond Beach Village.

BU is willing to offer the management of BTII an apology if proved wrong but the website appears not to have been updated  since 2006. Here is a snippet:

Caribbean Tourism – The Numbers Game

Anton Edmunds is the head of The Edmunds Group

A recent briefing by the Caribbean Tourism Organization reported tourism arrival numbers for the Caribbean region for 2013 as flat. The briefing and regional governments almost singular focus on arrival numbers highlights what is to some, a serious problem in how the economic value of this important industry is being tracked. The region and its tourism and economic officials seem to be engaged in the selective parsing of information related to the state of the industry and as a result may be misinforming the public. Numbers that focus on arrivals do not do enough to track the real economic impact of visitor travel, and ignore what may be the most important figures to Caribbean tourism economies – the spend level.

The so called spend level is an attempt to put a value on the actual expenditure per guest in each domicile visited and it is this number that helps show the “value on the street” of tourism to Caribbean economies. A direct correlation between employment and the tax base of a country, and the economic value of tourism is likely to be better understood looking also at these numbers than just focusing on cruise and/or stay-over visits. This is especially so in an era when hotel rooms are booked online as are cruise trips, allowing for almost all of that revenue to be processed and kept outside of the domicile/s to be visited.

Taking a Closer Look at Government’s Decision to Invest in Hotel Plant

Adrian Loveridge – Hotelier

When Government completes the acquisition of the former Almond Beach Village and Silver Sands Resort, it will become the single largest hotel owner on Barbados by far. In fact owning more than double the number of rooms than any private sector company does. Hilton (354), Almond Beach Village (ABV) (396), Silver Sands (130), Blue Horizon (120) including almost 50 abandoned rooms that were never upgraded under the GEMS project,Hotel PomMarine (21)

Still to be explained is whether the purchase of Casuarina (280) will be funded by Sandals companies, using their own money.  Even without Casuarina, already that’s over 1,000 rooms! This number could climb to over 1,500 when ABV is demolished and rebuilt. All acquired and/or built with subsidised taxpayer monies. Only time will tell if it is either desirable or healthy for any Government to own more than one in five of the entire hotel room stock in a tourism dependent nation.

I cannot think of a similar precedent in any other Caribbean country and if our policymakers are suggesting ‘Government should consider owning more hotels’, can they point to this model working anywhere else?

Barbados.org is that You?

Submitted by Due Diligence

Adrian Elcock, Chairman of the BTA

When I Googled “Barbados All Inclusive” yesterday [17 November 2013] I clicked on the barbados.org link, then http://www.barbados.org/allinclusive_vacations.php#.UoohrxaSKRY,There I found a list of 8 all-inclusive resorts, I then printed pages 1 to 3 of the 5 pages. On the printed page 2 of 5, the same two pictures of the two kids and the two adults which appeared on the website were printed – and, unbelievably,  under those pictures there is an ad for Transat Holidays for – SAINT LUCIA!. A copy of the printed page is attached. When I revisited the same page this morning, and printed page 2 of 5, the Transat/Saint Lucia ad was replaced with an Air Canada/CIBC ad.  Copy also attached. Apparently barbdos.org sells ad space to travel organizations which rotate and appear only in the printed material.

I suggest it might be timely for those who control barbados.org, the “Official Website of the Barbados Tourism Authority“, to do a bit of due diligence into the workings of its website.

Fly All the Way to Barbados When $1 Canadian was Worthed $1.72 Back in the Day

Submitted by Due Diligence

1956 Financial Post (Canada)

I really could not make this up. I was out on Saturday to an auction sale at an old home in an high-end neighbourhood (not my neighbourhood). Among the stuff they were selling was a bunch of old books, magazines and (1956) newspapers. Thinking it would be interesting to compare the news of the day to the news of almost 60 years ago, I picked up three editions of The Financial Post published in May and June 1956.

The Financial Post, which is now a daily section in the National Post newspaper, was then “Canada’s National Weekly of Business, Investment and Public Affairs”.  This was not a newspaper read by the ordinary Canadian; rather its readership was the business elite – those in the upper income levels who in 1956 had the resources to make an annual trip to the places of sea, sand and sun – for some even to own a second home. In 1956 DD was still a primary school student, had no investments and no interest in public affairs, so had no reason to read  “Canada’s National Weekly of Business, Investment and Public Affairs”

Today I decided to leaf through the three 1956 newspapers. My first thoughts were that they were talking about the same business, finance and investment issues in 1956 that are being discussed in today’s papers. Then, to my utter shock, an advertisement on page 12 of the May 26, 1956 edition of The Financial Post jumped out a me.