'Success lies with well-heeled visitors'

Nicole Alleyne, chief tourism development officer at the Barbados Ministry of Tourism, said: “Barbados is viewed as an aspirational destination.

“It doesn’t hurt that we have celebrities in Barbados — former British Prime Minister Tony was often there and we’ve had Oprah Winfrey and we are the home of singer Rihanna.

“That all helps and we have a range of properties which cater for these celebrities. We don’t see ourselves as a mass-market destination, which is partly because of our size – we’re the same length as Bermuda, but 14 miles across.

“We do try to offer a different mix, but mass market tourism is not a sustainable form of tourism in any case.

“Our goal is to ensure visitor expenditure by finding ways to encourage the visitor to spend more.

“The way to do that is improve our product by offering different experiences. It’s about reinventing yourself and saying here are new attractions and new accommodation we have to offer.”

Ms Alleyne, 36, is working on the new Barbados Tourism Master Plan, which aims to boost the business in the decades to come.

She said: “We don’t have issues that aren’t across the board – one is service quality, the ability to deliver the very best service, but we are addressing that through training.”

Ms Alleyne added that it was important, however, to maintain a range of accommodation. She said: “We have other accommodation in our mix which suits other price points. All of them are important for us because they will attract a different segment of our market.

“All of them work together to reflect our tourism product. We had a food and wine and rum festival which got in a lot of magazines, which helped.”

She added that niche marketing targeting gourmet magazines, diving and weddings also helped to promote Barbados.

Ms Alleyne said: “There are lots of ways to make people aware of a destination — you don’t have to rely on photographs of celebrities sitting at Sandy Lane.”

Ms Alleyne was speaking at the Caribbean Conference on Sustainable Tourism Development, held at the Fairmont Southampton Princess this week.

Veronica Millington, marketing manager at Barbados’ Harrison’s Cave, an attraction similar to Bermuda’s own Crystal Caves, said Barbados had felt the chill wind of recession.

But she added: “We’re doing pretty well now – we reopened last February after redevelopment and the results have been encouraging. Barbados does try to attract a higher-end client — we couldn’t be in the business of mass market tourism, so we try to offer high-quality experiences to a higher-end visitor.

“But we still have a lot of room only and self-catering as well as hotels ranging from two star to five star, like Sandy Lane, which is an incredibly important sector.

“That part of the market doesn’t look for discounts and will continue to travel despite the economic climate. We’ve also invested heavily in international marketing in Britain and Europe – we’ve put our money where our mouth is. Top end resorts are vital in branding a country, but we do need a balance.”

Ms Millington added that the Barbados government also worked hard to try and ensure that as many Barbadians as possible went into the industry.

She said: “We want to retain as many of these tourism dollars as possible — that way people can also see how tourism affects them directly. People’s attitudes are different if you know your pay cheque comes from that industry.”

Special report: Tourism

• Last chance to save tourism
• High-class hotels needed to hook wealthy travellers
• 'Success lies with well-heeled visitors'
• Promise of cruise business a cause for optimism
• Watersports firms feel the tourism squeeze
• Liveries slash number of bikes to rent
• Eateries cautiously optimistic for 2011
• Cruise ships are 'wiping out' mid-size hotels but there's reason for hope
• Ten ideas that might boost the industry
• One of our pressing needs in hospitality: good service
• Viewpoint: Has Bermuda lived up to expectations?
• Bermuda has to re-price itself into a niche market