Barbados’ tourism sector has begun to show signs of growth. In 2014, long stay visitor arrivals increased for the first time in two years. Arrivals rose by 2.2 percent compared to the previous year, to 519,638 visitors.
Chairman of the Barbados Tourism Marketing Inc. (BTMI) Alvin Jemmott explained that while there was still some way to go to restore all of the market share lost during the past few years, it was encouraging news for the destination.
“This is admirable considering that our destination is one of the more mature holiday spots in the region, with a very high repeat visitor rate," he said in a written release. "It also comes against the background that there was a projection of a four percent decline in arrivals for the year back in December 2013.”
Tourism is still the best hope for Barbados’ economic recovery, as it generates some 12 percent of the island’s foreign exchange earnings, which are estimated at $4 billion.
There was also a record-breaking number of arrivals in December 2014 when Barbados welcomed 56,132 long stay visitors, the highest on record in any given month since the April 2007 ICC Cricket World Cup.
BTMI CEO William Griffith explained that the growth in arrivals was due largely to the marked economic recovery and growing consumer confidence in the U.K. Barbados’ U.K. arrivals grew by 11 percent in 2014 to reach 186,858 visitors, or 37 percent of Barbados’ total arrivals.
In the U.S. market, he revealed that visitor arrivals declined by two percent in 2014. So far, the BTMI has been able to replace 82 percent of the 55,702 seats lost after the withdrawal of the American Airlines service out of New York's John F. Kennedy International Airport. In addition, December was a record month for the U.S. market, with 14,460 arrivals, the third highest number of December arrivals from the U.S. to date.
The cruise tourism sector registered a two percent decline in arrivals, to reach 557,898 arrivals, and home porting activity was five percent below the previous year due to a decrease in calls across various lines. However, Barbados welcomed 395 cruise ships, an increase of 21 vessels when compared to 2013. There were 1,164 more cruise stay visitors than in the previous year, with the majority choosing to stay 7-10 days.
Building on the successful growth of the previous year, Barbados’ tourism arrivals are projected to increase by five percent in 2015.
Also for the year, the island has recorded strong levels of visitor arrivals, with preliminary figures showing January as being the highest month on record for arrivals for the past 15 years with 56,132.
To ensure that this growth is sustained in 2015, the BTMI will be combining a new digital marketing strategy and a deeper reliance on research with a new nimble business structure and several collaborative marketing programs reach their targets.
A new program, dubbed "Brilliant Barbados," has been designed “to drive incremental business in the traditionally softer period of the year," said Griffith.
The booking window for the Brilliant Barbados promotion will open from early March for five weeks and travel will be required between May 9 and December 19. Thirty participating hotels and a number of local attractions have come on board to offer visitors discounts.
In addition, strong alliances are already being formed with several online travel agencies, tour operators and local industry partners to increase Barbados marketing presence at key gateways.
Among the niche markets the BTMI will be focusing its marketing dollars on are the luxury, meetings and incentives (MICE), culinary and romance markets. Sports and festivals are also expected to factor heavily going forward.
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