Adding Value to the Hospitality Industry

The hospitality industry is the major economic activity of Barbados, and though under stress in recent years, offers great opportunities for employment and is still the major source of foreign exchange earnings for the country. There is a sense however, that we are not stimulating market demand sufficiently in this increasingly competitive field. As a result of the global financial crisis the stress cracks have become more noticeable and there are calls to improve the tourism product and the promotion of Tourism.

Barbados has much going for it as a holiday destination and as an international business domicile, two activities that that are complementary to each other. Visitors to our shores speak highly of the hospitality of Barbadians and their natural tendency to offer help with directions or to talk about Barbadian culture.

Over the years there has been a consistent improvement in the quality of accommodations, diversity of cuisine. An improvement of the physical infrastructure includes expansion of the Grantley Adams International Airport, improved road systems and an investment in the rehabilitation of Bridgetown, Oistins and Speightstown. This remains a work in progress as we continue to develop.

There is a sense however, that we are missing a key element that will take tourism in Barbados to a new level. The visitors of today are interested in the history, culture, geology and the flora and fauna of the island. They look for linkages between Barbados and their own past and seek to find out more about how Barbados fits in with the global network of nations and the movement of people over the centuries. Today’s visitor is a seeker of knowledge and to add value to the Barbadian experience we should meet that demand.

Barbadian history is a rich treasure trove of the fabric of Africa and Europe weaving the tapestry of the New World. European wars were fought in our waters for centuries and we were crucibles of intellectual and political ferment for much of that time. It is long past time for us to take a mature view of our past and to develop information about the movement of people and the family linkages that exist between Barbados and the Barbadian Diaspora that literally extends to the four corners of the earth.

By developing the knowledge based holiday experience Barbados can carve out new markets and appeal to the more sophisticated traveler. Climate, hospitality, cuisine and accommodations are already in our corner by adding knowledge a whole new area of interest can be opened up and new support activities developed.

To some extent, there are pockets of the knowledge based aspect of the hospitality industry in place. George Washington House, The Barbados Museum, Nicholas Abbey, Andromeda Gardens and the spectacular natural amphitheatre garden at Hunt’s Nursery but to mention a few. What is needed is a coordinated effort to expand on these disparate efforts and linking them together.

It is time for us to put in place a focused program to develop and market the information experience of Barbados from the spectacular folding of the earth’s crust at Cattlewash demonstrating the power of the tectonic plate movement that thrusts Barbados out of the ocean to the Jacobean houses of Nicholas Abbey and Drax Hall; from the sailing ships of Drake, Rodney and Nelson to the U Boats of the Second World War. The first six governors of the Carolinas and Eric Holder’s forefathers are part of the Barbadian Diaspora, how many more can trace their passage through Barbados?

By developing the Barbadian Story in the context of our history and the reach of our people we will place a new Barbados on the map as a place of interest to be enjoyed by all. 

Libyan Debacle

On the 11^th of February the first signs of a protest against the repressive regime of Mohamar Gadhafi broke out in support of the release of Fathi Terbil, a human rights lawyer representing some of the families of more than one thousand prisoners slaughtered by the Libyan regime 15 years ago. Following the Benghazi protests, demonstrations erupted across Libya demanding that Gadhafi end his regime of brutal repression and step down.

The response was swift and brutal. Civilians were gunned down by the army and attacked from the air by helicopter gunships and jet attack aircraft. Tanks were employed at point blank range to fire on protestors and after Friday prayers in a Tripoli mosque worshipers were slaughtered in the streets with machine gun fire.

Even for Gadhafi this response was over the top. Many of his diplomats around the world abandoned the regime and called for the international community to intervene. Time and again they reiterated that they represented the people of Libya and not the tyrant who was ruthlessly engaged in attacking his own people with the full power of his military might. Enemies of the regime, real and imagined, were given no quarter or mercy as injured and wounded were dragged out of hospitals and shot.

For an interminable four weeks the world debated about the course of action to be taken while Gadhafi regrouped and organized his mercenary force to savage his people. President Obama called for Gadhafi to step down then did nothing more. Prime Minister Cameron and president Sarkozy called for the establishment of a no fly zone to prevent war planes from attacking civilians. Defense Secretary Gates said that it would be difficult and an act of war to deny the Libyan armed forces to use their air space.

As the world watched in horror, Hugo Chavez and his cronies leapt to the defense of Gadhafi leaving no one in any doubt about what his own course of action would be should the Venezuelan people decide to vote in the streets against him.

Finally, at the 11^th hour, with the Arab League and much of Europe calling for intervention, President Obama reversed course and supported a resolution in the Security Council of the United Nations to establish a no fly zone and to use other means to secure the safety of the Libyan people as the noose was tightening around the last remaining rebel stronghold.

In an act of duplicitous desperation the Libyan Foreign Minister declared that they were going to observe an immediate cease fire to avoid intervention by the Arab League and NATO. That could be likened to a pit bull wagging his tail and bowing subserviently to his adversary before striking for the jugular.

Much of the loss of life, pain and suffering could have been avoided if more decisive action were taken earlier. The dithering and fiddling has cost may lives and now places many more at risk. Let us hope that even at this late hour decisive action will now see the back of an ogre who has brutalized his people, participated in acts of terrorism and destabilized countries in the region.

phillip.goddard@braggadax.com

Doing Nothing is not an Option

Our capacity to identify problems seems to be inversely proportional to finding solutions. Newspaper articles are replete with wailings and lamentations and people crying out as though we were a people adrift among the sand dunes of the desert in the times of the Pharos. We seem to be a helpless people caught in the turbulence of global financial crisis, rising energy cost and natural disasters.

Thus it was most refreshing to read this past week of the prompt and decisive action taken by Mr. Kirk Weeks in extinguishing a fire with the assistance of an unnamed taxi driver. He saw the fire soon after it started in a closed shop, broke in and extinguished it. End of story.

Had he been a different person he could have called the fire service and waited for them to arrive by which time the flames could well have taken hold and destroyed a major portion of the building if not all of it. Were he less decisive than that he might have called the owner to open the shop so that they could attempt to fight the fire by which time other buildings in the area would be aflame. Then again, if he were timorous beyond all belief, he could have ignored the whole thing hoping that the fire would extinguish itself and justify his actions by saying it was not his fault.

As it turned out Mr. Weeks is a true Barbadian hero who saw the problem, knew the solution and took direct and prompt action. Good for him.

Now if we could duplicate some of the problem solving and decisive action that was on display in Prince William & Henry Street in the halls of government and commerce, we would restore a national sense of purpose and confidence that is has been lost these past few years.

There is a sense of drift and inaction as we continue to grapple with a changing world, rising prices and increased security threats. There is a lack of leadership and direction with policy decisions revolving around a hope that things will get better. Well I hope so too but the Lord helps those who helps themselves and we better had get on with the job of helping ourselves.

This coming week we will be presented with the Estimates of Expenditure of government and the following debate will be of critical importance. It should illuminate the thinking of both government and the opposition on the way forward for our country in what has become our most challenging time since independence.

We all know, for example, that the hospitality industry is going through a period of great stress. What we need to know is what we are going to do about it to make fundamental improvements to make Barbados a more attractive destination delivering value for money and improving our level of repeat business. Repeating solutions that have yielded poor results in the past is an exercise in stupidity and certain to fail. What we need is some creative thinking to expand the knowledge based experience of our visitors that capitalizes on the cultural, historical and family linkages that exist between Barbados and our major tourism markets. We have much good to build on and we should do so.

Phillip.goddard@braggadax.com

A Passion for Reading

All my life I have been surrounded by books and fine music. As I write, while listening to Johan Sebastian Bach’s Toccatas being played by Angela Hewitt, one of Canada’s finest interpreters of Bach’s music, I reflect on the importance of reading and the acquisition of knowledge. To my mind there is no substitute for reading. That is not to say that there is not a place for video or film and the graphic novels of today but nothing replaces reading a book and the exercise of one’s critical judgment, imagination and interpretation.

Today’s new technological tools are useful adjuncts to the world of books and the instantaneous downloading of an electronic version of a book and the multimedia aspect of digital publications is a decided enhancement. Digital publications allow a flexibility that is impossible in paper based publications and in some instances produce a richer learning environment. However I believe that there is nothing that will replace the experience of browsing in a bookshop or a library or being in a home surrounded by books.

Reading opens up a world beyond our horizons and develops a love of language. It expands our understanding of mankind and the world that we live in, challenging us to think and to develop our own ideas.

The digital environment of today allows for instant publications that are not necessarily accompanied with the intellectual rigor and critical review of paper based publications and seems not to have the permanence of a good book.

One of my criteria for judging young men and women for management positions has been their reading experience. Some read technical journals, others focus on history and biographies and some read fiction. An astounding number of young adults admit to not having read a book since leaving university. To them it is as if reading books was a chore imposed upon them by the educational system and now that they had completed their education they were done with reading. How sad.

To my mind, a wide range of reading from the King James the First version of the Bible to history, biography and current events along with books on management, scientific discovery and technological innovation interspersed with a broad variety of fiction is the best mix. For example a history of the Second World War may present the factual description of the movement of men and materials, the strategy and tactical events and the political considerations but it takes the poetic license of the fictional writer to express the horror and exhilaration of war and the human emotions in times of intense stress and remarkable danger.

There is no doubt that reading broadens the mind and helps us to better understand the human condition. From Chaucer to Shakespeare to Dickens the stepping stones continue from Sun Tzu to Machiavelli and Drucker.

All these and many more grace the library that I have accumulated over the past six decades. Books from my childhood, youth and throughout my working life, are my constant companions and my greatest pleasure is to share them with my family and friends in a way that I could not do with a kindle version. I hope that in some measure my books will develop a love of reading, learning and discussion of new ideas as well as an appreciation of different cultures and the richness of the English language.

While I do have a selection of digital books that I use for research, it is the physical volumes that I return to time and again. None of my friends browse my database of authors and titles though its available to them, but they spent hours going through my book cases, looking at fly leafs and dipping into books as they select one or several to read.

I think that printed books will be around for a very long time to come.

phillip.goddard@braggadax.com