Minister of Tourism and International Transport, Kerrie Symmonds is ensuring a level playing field for all stakeholders in the island’s leading economic sector.
He made this clear, stating, “As long as I am Tourism Minister, I will not apologise to any man or woman for the effort that is being made to make sure that we democratise the tourism sector, so that all players can have equality of opportunity in the land of their birth.”
The Minister was at the time responding to a complaint highlighted in the media last week by watersport operators that they are being robbed of their share of the sector by the advanced booking systems of large tour companies.
Speaking at the opening ceremony of We Gatherin’ Barbados 2020 Heritage Connection Centres and Genealogy Marketplace at St. Lucy Parish Church, he said that it is not the fault of the watersport and taxi operators that they have not been brought closer to the cruise ship operations in this country.
“These are aged-old inequalities that have humbugged this country and humbugged the small economic players in tourism for 20 years or more. And it has now become our lot to rectify that situation.”
In fact, he disclosed that a pilot programme one week ago at the Bridgetown Port trained 30 taxi drivers, enabling them to now work directly with the cruise lines to market their tours onboard.
The Tourism Minister further pointed out that the watersport operators must now be the next step in the process.
“So I hear their plea and ask them to be patient with me because I am right-sizing a badly constructed system. And part of what we have to do as we go forward is to understand that this process requires us as Barbadians to evaluate ourselves; to look at what we do well and tick that box. But equally, we must look at what we have not been doing very well and appreciate that there is a need for correction,” he stressed.
“And part of the challenge with the taxis as well as with watersports is that the discussion that must now be had is one of how we preserve certain standards. That we are able to make sure that we create a level playing field for all people.”
“And that playing field is not only fair to all players, but that once you are involved in the business there are certain standards that you are expected to abide by. And I see it as the duty of a government to help people who are falling below the expected standard to come up to the standard that we want,” Symmonds said. (TL)
