Barbados to Pay Up for Tourism Marketing

Barbados may be expected to contribute a significant share to the Caribbean Tourism Marketing Fund proposed by CARICOM Heads of Government for selling the region as a single tourist destination.

This is the indication from Luther Miller, director of finance at the Caribbean Tourism Organization (CTO), who confirmed that Caribbean countries were better off marketing themselves in a cluster.

Two weeks ago, whilst introducing tourism in the 2008 Financial Statement and Budgetary Proposals, Prime Minister David Thompson noted that some major decisions were taken for the industry in the Caribbean at the recent Heads of Government meeting held in Antigua, “including the commitment to a regional brand”.

And, according to Miller, Barbados should be prepared to make a hefty contribution to the $60 million fund that would most likely be capitalized with each country’s input according to their level of tourist arrivals.

According to CTO statistics, Barbados ranked ninth among the 33 CTO member countries with 574,533 long-stay arrivals last year, and tenth with 616,354 cruise arrivals from January to December.