Canadian High Commissioner Ruth Archibald anticipates a boost in Barbados’ tourism numbers from the Canadian market, based on an increase in applications from Canadian charter airlines to fly here.
In addition, she reasons the strength of the Canadian dollar since its return to competitiveness with and parity above the American dollar should make Barbados an attractive destination for Canadians once again.
“The big destination marks for Canadians are the Dominican Republic, Cuba and Mexico, but when you have done that for a decade and Barbados suddenly is presented as a new destination, even though we were a bit of the founders of the tourism market here about 20 years ago, I think there is lots of opportunity for continued growth in the Canadian tourism market” Archibald told the DAILY NATION.
In an exclusive interview two weeks before she leaves Barbados on retirement, the high commissioner said she had seen Canadian tourism to the island increase by 20 per cent during her three-year tenure, with almost 100 000 Canadians coming here annually.