The
Government of Barbados has launched a strong program to identify
new investment on the island and more specifically on the
island. Could you tell us specifically what is the focus
and objectives in the next couple of years?
A lot is being focused on the World Cup of 2007 and all
the infrastructure that such endeavour brings along. The
capital city, Bridgetown, will undertake major redevelopment,
with an investment around the 150 million USD with a significant
participation of private sector development existing and
on-going. For instance the Sandy Lane Hotel and Golf Resort,
where Tiger Woods just got married, forms part of an upmarket
tourism and we have existing projects of that kind with condominium
style and golf resort included. In addition a number of other
projects are being completed like for instance the Hilton
hotel which will be completed by the end of this year; with
350 rooms, this hotel is quite large, specially if we keep
in mind that Barbados has small boutique-type hotels, one
of the biggest ones having 120 rooms, but it remains rather
a high end destination. Of course there is average guesthouse
accommodation, but we definitely moving towards the higher
end.
It seems the urban rehabilitation program will change the
infrastructure of the island in the next 5 years. Could
you actually give us some details of particular projects
to be executed and the investment possibilities it would
offer?
There are four specific areas in Barbados being identified.
One is the capital Bridgetown which is celebrating the 375
anniversary. Our capital is quite a noble city, it is remarkable
that in the 17th century it was one of the three major ports
in the world with London and Boston. The government is taking
the lead and giving an example, but all those activities
are being supported by the private sector. With all this
investment, the overall quality of the island has been substantially
improved.
Tourism represents 50% of the island’s
GDP. Can you tell us what percentage of that is generated
by US tourists?
I believe that approximately 20% of our tourism income comes
from American tourism.
|
Aside from the World Cup, which is a major event that will undoubtedly boost
tourism for the area, what are your growth expectations in the sector for
the next few years?
There are not massive projections – what is more likely
to happen is to see a growth in revenue. We have around 8500
hotel rooms at the moment and we are expecting expand to
12000 rooms in the next 5 or 10 years. You don’t see
huge developments like in Cuba or Dominican Republic. We
are a small island so we are actually looking at rate increase
through improvement of service and quality. So we are investing
not only in infrastructure but also in human resources development.
We launched a campaign in a joint-venture between government,
the union and the private sector to train people about the
importance of good service.
Is it difficult to combine sustainable tourism growth and infrastructure development?
We are trying to get systems in place so that you don’t
get everybody excited for just one year and then nothing.
The World Cup is actually 3 years away, but we are not building
just for the World Cup, we are building for 10 or 20 years
beyond that. We have regular meetings with private sector
members and the unions in order to discuss those issues and
build consensus.
Could you tell us more about the Cricket World Cup and what implications it
has for Barbados?
The Cricket Board succeeded a couple of years ago to win
the bid for organising the games. We went through a thorough
process to be selected but finally we succeeded. Of course
cricket is very important for us, people here is very passionate
about this sport and we are the first Caribbean country to
succeed into organising it. It will definitely be the most
important event in our history, there will be 1.5 billion
people watching worldwide. For a country of 260.000 people
to get such an exposure is a unique experience.
|
TOP
INTERVIEWS : 
Interview
with Mr. Chris de Caires,