BARBADOS’ TOURISM PRODUCT is under constant review to ensure it fills the needs of visitors to these shores.
This assurance came from Prime Minister Freundel Stuart last night as he spoke at the Repeat Visitors’ Reception at Ilaro Court.
Stuart told the visitors: “The obligation of the Government also is to ensure that we do not rest on our laurels and believe that what we call our tourism product can remain in an unchanged state, from everlasting to everlasting.
“We have to be constantly working on those delights and those attractions which we make available for your enjoyment, and therefore, the tourism product of Barbados is under continuing review and development because we do not want monotony to set in and when you come to Barbados you are bored….”
The annual Repeat Visitors’ Reception is hosted once monthly from January to April. The Prime Minister explained that it was held for those visitors who “have invested very heavily” in this society and who visit yearly, demonstrating their loyalty to the island.
Stuart gave the assurance that Barbados would continue to be a congenial place for their enjoyment and recreation. “We try to make Barbados as…comfortable a place as possible for our citizens, and once our citizens are comfortable they are able to exude that warmth that you enjoy when you come to visit our shores and when you interact with our people.
“We live in a very turbulent world nowadays and wherever one can find a little oasis of peace and tranquility it has to be grabbed with both hands and fully enjoyed,” he stressed.
The Prime Minister told his audience that tourism was the lead sector in the Barbados economy and Government felt obliged to invest as heavily as possible in it and make tourists feel justified in placing their faith in Barbados.
“We recognise that visitors have options and if they don’t find Barbados agreeable, there are always other places they can go,” he observed.
Stuart added that tourists always commented on the warmth of Barbadians and stressed that the displaying of that quality was what kept them returning. He noted that Government also placed a very heavy emphasis on the maintenance of law and order in Barbados.
The Prime Minister also offered heartfelt sympathy to the Canadian visitors following the shooting at a Canadian mosque earlier this week, which officials have described as a terrorist attack.
During the night, several repeat visitors were presented to the Prime Minister, including two couples who were on their 50th visit. (BGIS)
