In the final hours of the campaign for Wednesday’s general election, the Barbados Labour Party candidate who held the tourism portfolio in the Mia Mottley administration, declared that Barbados was set to add 1 800 new hotel rooms by 2030, a development projected to boost jobs and investment.
Saying that more than $1bn had been invested in tourism infrastructure, Ian Gooding‑Edghill, the St Michael West Central incumbent, outlined that the island was already on its way to increasing hotel stock, as he touted completed, ongoing and yet‑to‑commence projects.
He said: “On the South Coast, where the Caribee hotel used to be, Indigo, sitting there as a symbol of pride, and we have close to 300 people working there. When you go around the corner, and you look at Hyatt that is coming out of the ground, another 400 rooms, more employment opportunities for Barbadians, not only in construction but also in jobs that will secure them. More work for the taxi drivers and others who contribute to the tourism sector.”
“And when we go across to the Pierhead, we also have another project including residences there. More tourism rooms. And when you leave there, and you go north, let us stop by Paradise, where we’re going to have the Montage, a proud record of accomplishment. Another hotel going up there.”
He also pointed to the almost complete Royalton, the planned 422‑room Beaches on the former Heywoods site, and the Pendry resort slated for St Peter.
“That is what you call progress. And what does it mean? It means that we will have, before 2030, an additional 1 800 rooms being built up in Barbados, and there are more rooms to be built,” he said.
Speaking at the Eagle Hall meeting on Monday night, Gooding‑Edghill argued that, despite criticisms about the BLP’s decision to implode the old Hilton hotel and construct a new one, this was now debt‑free with an asset value of more than $220m.
He also reiterated his party’s commitment to expanding the Bridgetown Port and the Grantley Adams International Airport, saying the latter will commence later this year.
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