Sealy: Need for research in wellness sector

MORE MARKET RESEARCH and strategic planning is needed within the tourism sector.
This is according to Minister of Tourism Richard Sealy, addressing a recent stakeholders’ consultation on the development and promotion of the Caribbean health and wellness tourism sector at the Lloyd Erskine Sandiford Centre.
“Marketing and research development, promotion of health and wellness products, and standards to improve services,” he said, were the areas that required focus. “We need to do more in research. Be more strategic how we plan forward. Then there is the need to develop standards.”
Moreover, the minister stressed that health and wellness tourism was not only for visitors to the region but also for its citizens.
The minister said there was still some “significant work” to be done in order to achieve a competitive health and wellness tourism product in Barbados. He said this included creating awareness of these services.
“People need to understand the capacity and capabilities of Barbados’ health and wellness services.
“Outline the action of Government and business-support organisations so that when we achieve these objectives, we will be one step closer to achieving our goal of sustaining health and wellness tourism as a significant part of the market.”
Bonita Morgan, director of human resources at the Caribbean Tourism Organisation (CTO), told BARBADOS BUSINESS AUTHORITY that she agreed with the minister about more marketing and said her organisation had various mechanisms in place to assist in marketing the Caribbean’s tourism product.
“I think getting financial resources is our challenge. Within our region we are trying to develop a sustainable regional marketing fund and certainly the CARICOM countries are taking the lead in terms of trying to find a mechanism for having a fund in place,” Morgan said. (MM)