CARIBBEAN/BARBADOS: 'Wake-up' To Tourism Realities

'Wake-up' To Tourism Realities - Monday 16, June-2003
by Bernard Babb 

Barbadian and Caribbean destinations must face up to “new normalcies” of the 
global tourism industry and fashion strategic responses. 

The “new normalcies”, according to Berthia Parle, a vice-president of the 
Caribbean Hotel Association (CHA), include rising operating costs, discounted 
business and dwindling profits, along with bargain-hunting consumers who 
expect to get more for less. 

Parle told industry partners at a Barbados Hotel and Tourism Association 
(BHTA) meeting at Sherbourne Centre last week that there was also increased 
concern over safety and convenience of air-travel that had dampened demand 
for air travel. 

She said hoteliers needed to think and act more strategically and hotels and 
tourism companies needed to be more focused on honing competitive advantage 
at the industry level. 

“At the same time, governments must sharpen their focus on enhancing the 
enabling environment for companies and destinations to become more 
competitive , and for our economies to maximise the growth and development 
potential of tourism,” Parle said. 

She further argued that “co-opetition” among all players was critical to give 
effect to forward planning and strategic thinking. 

“Co-opetition” is a new buzz-word which refers to co-operation by industry 
players and institutions to create value packages, enhance visitor 
experience, and allow destinations to compete in the global marketplace. 

The regional advertising campaign is regarded as a good example of 
“co-opetition”. 

Quoting from the World Tourism Organisation’s 2002 report, Parle noted that 
of all the tourism regions of the world it was only in the Americas that 
industry performance was still depressed. 

She said the Americas were the only region to close 2002 in the red and 
within that grouping, the Caribbean islands experienced a three per cent 
decline. 

This was the second consecutive year of decline and which was much bigger 
than the 1.9 per cent suffered by the sub-region in 2001. 

“This was felt to be a probable side effect of problems experienced in the 
airline industry. All in all, not a very encouraging state of affairs,” she 
said. 

The Caribbean Hotel Association vice-president further suggested that 
Caribbean destinations needed to enhance their national and regional 
capacities for research and analysis in order to guide new investment 
policies and new growth and development strategies. 



SOURCE: Barbados Nation