Barbados What’s new The new message
Adrian Elcock, the Barbados Tourism Authority’s new chairman, has big plans for Barbados. We asked him what’s in store...
What are you bringing to the role? This is my first role in tourism – I’m a tourism virgin – but I come from a
background of business and real estate. I’m coming to the tourism industry with a different head, without inhibitions. We’ll see how we can reinvigorate our industry, and move it in a positive, sustainable direction.
What does Barbados need to do differently? A lot of places have sun and sand; we need to offer something different. And we can’t compete on price. In 2011 we have been promoting heritage, but not just the heritage of places and buildings but the heritage of the people. I want to reposition our industry to mean “people” first – and by that, I mean Bajan people. We need to engage Bajans a little more. Our people could be our strongest mes- sage.
Elcock: Bajan people could be our strongest message Hotel news
Sleek Oceans Two opened in the summer, just a few minutes walk from the nightlife of St Lawrence Gap. This condo-hotel has 88 rooms and apartments, plus a swim-up pool bar and rooftop patio with plunge pool. The two-bed apartments sleep up to five adults, or two adults and three children.
Rostrevor Hotel in The Gap is
building a new block of rooms to be complete by January 2012. The Rostrevor features self- catering apartments and has an onsite restaurant and poolside bar. It is an official partner of Barbados Golf Club.
Coral Reef Club has recently refurbished all of its Plantation Suites. The suites have four posted or canopied beds, DVD and CD players and a complimentary starter bar.
4 published in association with Barbados Tourism Authority
How will you achieve this? We asked the people for their input, to help us with a total brand review. We asked what is good about Barbados in their eyes, and what message they would like to convey. It showed there
Coral Reef’s sister property, Sandpiper, can now offer a self-contained three-bedroom beach-front villa, after purchasing a building already within its grounds. Sandpiper is also in process of purchasing Settlers Beach next door, and has already taken over management of the property.
The smart Courtyard by Marriott (pictured right) opened at the start of 2011, in the Garrison
Historic Area of Bridgetown. It has 118 rooms over four floors, some
is a disconnect between our tourism industry and our civil society. They want to be part of it. We need to find avenues to engage local people in tourism, to help visitors engage with local people and music.
Rihanna is now an official tourism ambassador for Barbados. How will you benefit from this? We will use her celebrity to strengthen our brand in the marketplace. It’s great that she’s bringing her Loud tour here.
How can you boost visitors’ engagement with music? I want to roll out a festival similar to Glastonbury - we already have Barbados Jazz which is successful but it’s quite niche. I mean a broader festi- val with more genres of music to create the effect of Glastonbury. I’ve had some good meetings in New York with show promoters.
How successful was the recent Legends football tournament? It brought a thousand extra visitors to the island and all these footballers are
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