0
Tourism sector development and infrastructure projectswere discussed when Minister of Tourism and International Transport, Ian Gooding-Edghill, met with a team from the World Bank (WB).
The World Bank’s Regional Director for Infrastructure in Latin America and the Caribbean, Maria Marcela Silva, led the team during a courtesy call on Wednesday, at the ministry’s One Barbados Place, Warrens location.
During the talks, Gooding-Edghill spoke about the island’s tourism growth between 2023 and 2024, the airlift strategy, and provided room inventory updates.
“Barbados is entering an exciting period of growth. We are building out and expanding our room inventory. It is absolutely necessary because as we drive more traffic to destination Barbados, it is necessary that we do so.
“The first thing that we had to do, which I also believe contributed immensely to the strategy, is that we facilitated an airlift strategy to drive growth. You will note that the growth we’ve experienced is really very exciting, at the same time extraordinary and encouraging,” he stated.
Silva, who is currently participating in the 34th General Assembly’s Forum of Ministers and Highest Authorities of Housing and Urban Development of Latin America and the Caribbean (MINURVI), emphasised the importance of urban regeneration and infrastructure improvements.
You Might Be Interested In
She indicated that the World Bank was able to provide financing and knowledge sharing, particularly in the tourism and international transport sectors. She added that the World Bank would share data, best practices, and financing options with the ministry.
“We are very keen to work with you…. We are part of the infrastructure team, so we manage the infrastructure agenda for Latin America, and in this case, it means everything that goes, from energy, transport, and urban development, to tourism, disaster risk management and so on. So, it’s a wide area of engagement….
“We think that there is a huge opportunity in the tourism sector. It’s one of these sectors that we see as having a lot of potential to support job creation, economic growth and so on,” Silva said.
The two officials also talked about technical assistance and training in aviation and tourism development, sustainable practices, cruise tourism, and diversification of markets.
Additionally, they discussed the proposed expansion of the Grantley Adams International Airport, achieving Category 1 status with the US Federal Aviation Administration and the International Civil Aviation Organisation, the need for better data analytics and marketing strategies.
Also present at the courtesy call were acting Permanent Secretary (Tourism), Deborah Norville; Permanent Secretary (International Transport), Charley Browne; acting Chief Technical Officer, Dionne Gibbs-Nicholls; the World Bank’s Practice Manager for Urban, Resilience and Land for Latin América and the Caribbean, Federica Ranghieri; Lead Urban Specialist in the Urban, Resilience and Land Global Practice, Paula Restrepo Codavid; and Senior Urban Specialist (Caribbean Team), Rafeef Abdel Razek.
(BGIS)
