Sue Springer (right) alongside other tourism officials greeting visitors onboard the JetBlue flight from Newark, New Jersey.
In the 1980s, Barbados welcomed approximately 170,000 visitors to these shores from the North American market annually; figures Tourism and International Transport Minister Richard Sealy wants to see again.
Saying these visitors peaked at 176,000 in 1986, he insisted that with greater airlift out of the United States, it may not be long before such figures were once again commonplace.
He made the comments as the island welcomed its first ever JetBlue flight out of Newark, New Jersey on Saturday evening.
Sealy said that US arrivals were allowed to plateau three decades ago, as the island became complacent with the higher numbers coming out of the United Kingdom, which still remains its main source market to this day.
However, he stressed that with JetBlue now providing 24 flights per week out of New York, Boston, Fort Lauderdale and now New Jersey, as well as other major carriers servicing various airports in the United States, Barbados was well on track to returning to the peak figures of the 1980s.
“Now, because of JetBlue now we will soon be able a new benchmark set,” he told those gathered in the lounge of the Grantley Adams International Airport, while indicating that the loads coming out of US destinations are
looking good for this year."
In her remarks, United States Ambassador to Barbados and the Eastern Caribbean Linda Taglialatela said that the expanded service from the Newark area offered the diaspora another opportunity to hold on to its strong ties to the region.
She also highlighted that the flight underscored partnership between the US and Barbados government and the countries’ citizens. (JMB)
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