Parliament Representative for St Peter Colin Jordan says in a highly competitive sector such as tourism, branding must be taken more seriously.
Speaking on the Tourist Accommodation Bill, 2025 which was debated in the House of Assembly yesterday, he said that in a more modern environment, one where people were more discerning, branding should be more than superficial.
“Branding in 2025 does not often go as deep into what a thing really is, but it speaks very often, and in my view maybe too often, to what a thing looks like, how it is perceived, but superficially,” Jordan said.
“I contend, that in an industry like tourism, an industry that is internationally competitive, an industry where one has while sitting in Barbados, to compete against a hotel – we’re talking about accommodation – in the Maldives, … in the tropical western pacific, has to compete intra-regionally with a hotel in Turks and Caicos, in order to be able to maintain a stake in the industry, in order to be able to maintain some level of market share, the matter of branding has to be taken, maybe even more seriously than we actually do take it, and I believe that we take it very, very seriously”.
Jordan, a former president of the Barbados Hotel and Tourism Association, also said that the bill, which “provides for the licensing, classification, designation, registration, regulation, monitoring and inspection of tourist accommodation”, was needed and would benefit Barbados, its economy and its people.
He said a look at the stipulations, regarding the areas covered in the legislation, showed that the Ministry of Tourism and Government were “intent on safeguarding the brand” and “the integrity of that story” which was shared “internationally when we say to people, ‘come to our country, come to Barbados, because you are coming to a place of high value’”.
Stating that it “is very easy to lose brand integrity”, the Minister of Labour, Social Security, and Third Sector also told the House that it was “very easy to lose brand integrity” therefore, it was “imperative that inspections take place” at “those who sell vacations at their properties” as they are selling Barbados.
“That is important. No individual owner or operator of an accommodation business in tourism, in the tourism industry, is selling only their place of business. In international tourism, once you
are out there internationally in the market, you are also selling the country.
“The country therefore has a responsibility to . . . persons living [here] to make sure that no individual in pursuit of their own gain, in pursuit of legitimate business interests, does harm to the brand and the name of this country. And so, the matter of holding those who operate accommodation, those who have businesses selling rooms to visitors who come to this country, or those visitors who are from this country,
who choose to go on staycations, the matter of holding all of these accommodation businesses to
certain standards is very important,” he said. (GBM)
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