BARBADOS: Lynch predicts two big tourism years ahead

Lynch predicts two big tourism years ahead
Web Posted - Thu Oct 30 2003

Minister of Tourism, Noel Lynch, is predicting that the next two years will 
be big ones for Barbados’ tourism industry in terms of visitor arrivals. 

Speaking just after a tour of the Barbados Hilton construction site, Lynch 
stated “We expect 2004 to be a very good tourism year for Barbados primarily 
because of the England cricket tour, but with the Hilton coming on stream for 
2005 our position may be even better.” 

The minister said that a study on Barbados’ accommodation capacity between 
2003 and 2010 had just been completed, and that study showed that Barbados 
had some 7 000 hotel rooms at present. 

He noted that measures now had to be taken to ensure that Barbados had enough 
room capacity to meet our tourism needs over the 2003-2010 period, which also 
included the cricket World Cup in 2007. 

Lynch stated that more rooms were also needed in the local tourism industry, 
given recent marketing efforts the Barbados Government had undertaken in 
order to increase airlift out of the United States. 

He noted that Continental Airlines would start a new service to Barbados from 
Newark in New Jersey on December 18, American Airlines would be operating two 
flights out of Miami on a daily basis, and there were other gateways that 
Government was exploring in the US market. 

He added that one of the key factors that would attract visitors from the US 
market was the presence of a “brand name” hotel, and with the Hilton brand 
being one of the more respected ones, he expected the Barbados Hilton to be a 
fillip to the local tourism product and its accommodation capacity over the 
next two decades. 

The new Hilton Hotel should be completed by August 2004. 



SOURCE: Barbados Advocate