Barbados needs to explore and develop niche tourism

TIMES INT'L

A lunchtime lecture was held recently at the headquarters of the Barbados Democratic Labour Party under the theme ‘Tourism Paradigm: Developing the Niche’. During that event, former Senator and Chief Executive Officer of Alternative Extreme Vacations Inc., Damien Griffith, delivered a passionate address. The main concern, he stressed, was that Barbados needed to explore and develop niche tourism areas, such as family, youth, spiritual interest, and baby boomers.

Griffith said that Barbados was at a crossroads and needed to investigate these niche markets, because tourism was impacted by the recession. Citing research conducted in 2009, he said that world travel suffered a 4.2 per cent decline, equalling some 18 million people, according to the World Tourism Organisation (UNWTO). However, the UNWTO also found that, within the same niche groups which Barbados should target, there was no significant drop-off, with special focus on the figures indicative of youth tourism. Griffith said: “Youth tourism is a 50-billion-dollar-a-year industry. When the globe recorded all kinds of estimates as great as 40 and 50 per cent fallout, there was a five-to-nine per cent fallout recorded by persons investing in youth tourism.” (Barbados Advocate)

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