Above: Barbados (CJ Photo)
By the Caribbean Journal staff
Barbados is continuing to focus “more and more” on heritage and culture tourism, something Tourism Minister Richard Sealy says will go hand in hand with a push for more engagement at the community level.
“There are many very popular destinations that when you land at the airport, you are put in a coach and you are taken to an all-inclusive hotel, and you lave that property when you are returning to that same airport to go back home,” he said this week. “That is not what we offer as a destination. We like to encourage our visitors to go out and experience and explore.”
It’s areas like Barbados’ Martin’s Bay, Chalky Mount, Oistins and Paynes Bay that are perfect for community tourism, he says, the kinds of places “our tourists want to experience and they want to be immersed in.”
Community tourism, he said, “is something that we have to market and something [which] differentiates us from other tourism destinations around the world.”
“Therefore, it is our responsibility at the Ministry of Tourism to see that we continue to expose these nuggets,” he said.
Another Caribbean country, Grenada, has been making a push to highlight community tourism as well.