Barbados tourism showing signs of improvement in 2010
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| Published on Tuesday, February 9, 2010 |
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BRIDGETOWN, Barbados (BTA) -- Tourism, long believed by economic pundits to be the sector to pull Barbados out of the global economic recession, is already showing tremendous signs of improvement in 2010.
Barbados Tourism Authority (BTA) preliminary figures show a 5.3 per cent increase in arrivals as at January 29 over the previous period in 2010, while official 2009 figures show that tourism officials met their target with the sector waning by 8.6 per cent. Early 2009 predictions were for a performance in the region of -8.5 per cent.
At a recent press conference Tourism Minister Richard Sealy, commended the captains of the industry for their sterling efforts that saw job losses kept at a minimal. Meanwhile a number of businesses that buckled under the recession reopened under new management and new branding.
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| David M Rice |
President and CEO of the BTA, David M Rice, CHA, in commenting on the 2010 figures described them as extremely encouraging, particularly as projections originally stood at 3.7 per cent.
“This is demonstrative of the dedication and hard work of our global network of staff and partners who continue to pursue innovative strategies toward increasing our share of an increasingly competitive market. We ought to be very encouraged; particularly as several other major destinations are still reeling from the impact of the recession.”
Sports tourism continues to be a key niche market and the BTA is working assiduously to put resources and initiatives in place to capitalize on this lucrative segment. Of note is the significant media exposure obtained through the hosting several high profile events in the recent past, including the just concluded Sentebale Polo Cup and last year’s exhibition match between world No. 1 seed, Serena Williams and Caroline Wozniacki.
With the Twenty20 world cup of cricket and the Fireball Worlds sailing championship and the Women’s World Boxing Championships on the calendar of world class events for 2010, the island is hoping to see continuous improvements in this vital economic sector. | | | | Reads : 1193 | | | |
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