THE MANNING of the immigration desk at Grantley Adams International Airport (GAIA) and the increase in taxi fares are two of the major issues facing the tourism industry.

"A number of concerns were expressed by both visitors and our members with respects to the coverage of the immigration desks at GAIA," said Sue Springer, executive vice-president of the Barbados Hotel and Tourism Association (BHTA).

In order to address this, she said Stuart Layne, president of the Barbados Tourism Authority (BTA), met with the Immigration Department and set up an agreement to employ an additional 15 officers to ensure the desk would be manned at peak times.

"The Immigration Department had not budgeted for these additional staff, so the BTA and BHTA agreed to pay, through the Tourism Fund, for these officers for the remainder of this financial year," she said.

Already trained

The officers have already been trained and are scheduled to work both the departure and arrival areas at the airport during the 12 p.m. to 8 p.m shift.

Springer was addressing an audience made up mostly of agriculture and tourism officials at the third quarterly meeting of the BHTA at Hilton Barbados yesterday.

While maintaining their agreement with the 25 per cent increase in taxi fares, Springer said a problem arose in the form of an additional sum being charged by taxi drivers for the usage of air-conditioning in the cars.

"This anomaly has created a number of complaints from visitors. The BHTA transport sub-committee had recommended an increase of 40 per cent which would include air-conditioning, which would ensure there would not be split level rates ... but what is happening now is becoming counter-productive to the customer," she said.

Springer also said the association would be having talks with BWIA to ensure there would be no loss of airlift to Barbados as a result of the airline giving way to Caribbean Airlines. (CA)