Friday, March 29, 2024

BHTA concerned about sargassum

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FINDING A SOLUTION to the problem of sargassum seaweed on the island’s beaches is now at the top of the agenda of the Barbados Hotel and Tourism Association (BHTA).

In a media release, the BHTA describes sargassum as “the latest threat to our tourism product” as it is affecting visitors and locals alike.

“Our hotels on the south and east coasts are doing all they can to battle this issue by way of beach clean-ups, where they rent equipment and employ additional workers in that area,” CEO Sue Springer said.

“Some have also found uses for the seaweed in their gardens, nurseries and golf courses and one property is looking into the possibility of using a boom to prevent it from reaching the shore.

“The Association has also been in discussions with private and public sector agencies including the Ministry of Tourism, the Barbados Tourism Product Authority, the Barbados Tourism Marketing Inc., and the National Conservation Commission (NCC) to try to find a solution,” she said.

Springer applauded the NCC for its efforts to date in trying to deal with the problem and noted that the Association had also received a number of proposals on possible solutions.

However, most of those call for the importation of extremely expensive equipment and would require national support from both the private and public sectors.

“This is not an individual’s challenge or a Government’s challenge. It is not a hotel’s challenge or the tourism sector’s challenge. This is a national challenge,” Springer stressed.

“The BHTA stands ready to help wherever possible. We need to discuss this issue collectively and formulate a plan. Firstly, we need to come up with a way to deal with the beaches already covered by the seaweed. Then identify the source of the seaweed and how it can be eliminated.”

The CEO said if there was no way to solve the problem permanently, the next step would be to find a solution to prevent the seaweed from encroaching onto the beaches and also ways of turning this ‘enemy’ into a ‘friend’ by finding uses for it.

 “The Sargassum seaweed is not only affecting Barbados and, to this end, we have also engaged our Caribbean partners including the Caribbean Tourism Organisation and the Caribbean Hotel and Tourism Association (CHTA), requesting both entities to raise this issue at the regional level,” Springer said.

“The CHTA is already preparing a research paper which should be available [this] week with some possible solutions, while the Caribbean Association of Sustainable Tourism is investigating solutions internationally.” (PR)

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