Major growth in Barbados

By the Caribbean Journal staff

Barbados tourism is booming.

The country reported 303,592 stayover arrivals in the first half of 2015, the first time the country has ever topped 300,000 visitor in the Jan-June period.

That represented a 14.3 percent improvement over the same period in 2014, one of the highest growth rates in the region.

“This exceptional double-digit performance has been credited as the primary reason for the 0.5 percent increase in local GDP and comes against the backdrop of the Caribbean Tourism Organization’s (CTO) five percent growth projection for our region for 2015,” said Chairman of the Barbados Tourism Marketing Inc., Alvin Jemmott. “It also surpasses the global industry forecast issued by the United Nations World Tourism Organization (UNWTO) in January this year for international tourist arrivals to increase by 3 to 4 percent.  Indeed, we are even above our own internal target for the year.”

Jemmott said visitor spend was also up 5 percent, although there was a reduction in the average length of stay.

He pointed to factors like the UK APD adjustments, falling unemployment in the US and lower oil prices as contributing in part to the increase in arrivals.