GOVERNMENT IS EXPLORING the possibility of having more international hotel brands set up here.

This will be one of the tasks that the new board of the Barbados Tourism Investment Inc. (BTI) will been charged with, Minister of Tourism Richard Sealy said.

"That is an area where we as a tourism destination are a little weak right now; apart from Hilton there is Four Seasons under construction and there is talk about Bayan Tree. We have no brands. It is a big problem especially for that United States market," the minister said.

"It is interesting to note that even though just under 40 per cent of our tourists come out of the United Kingdom, which puts them significantly ahead of the others, the Hilton hotel is the exact opposite to the rest of the island. They get mainly Americans and the only reason that we can conclude that [they] will come and stay at the Hilton is because it is something that they recognise.

"[Americans] are willing to pay for it because its Hilton. Americans will go to China and look to eat in a McDonald's. That's just how they are, they like brand," said Sealy.

The minister added that Barbados really wanted to benefit from the United States market and shore up the British market as well. Therefore the brands were necessary.

"I don't necessarily suggest that Government will go around building hotels all over the place and tell brands to come and run them. We have to look at ways in which we can attract the private equity companies and encourage them to build so then we can have the brands operate," he said. (DS)