Skyrocketing airfares will hurt Barbados – Dr Hall

Already considered an expensive destination, the exorbitant summer fares charged by US carriers will not do Barbados any favours in the coming months, says tourism consultant Dr. Kerry Hall.
She said that with cheaper destinations offering similar products, the anxieties of local tourism stakeholders over the airfare situation are well-founded.
“It is not like paying the airfare and then you are coming somewhere which is affordable so you can take the hit with the airfare,” Hall told Barbados TODAY in an interview.
“Barbados is one of the most expensive destinations in the world. I do not know how, but we are. When you come here you have to look to dole out even more money. So why come here when I could travel to the Mediterranean, the Far East or Singapore for less and those are cheaper destinations. So Barbados now has to be concerned,” she stressed.
She also pointed out that it would be difficult for a destination market to get an airline to lower its fares, if the demand for those flights, regardless of the cost, remained.
Industry stakeholders have been raising concerns in recent days over the thousands of dollars international carriers are charging for travelling to Barbados in the July-August period.
A quick check online today with American Airlines showed that a round trip ticket for a traveller from New York ranged between US$1,500 to US $4,000 during those months.
Meanwhile, for those looking to be in Barbados for the Sweetest Summer Festival’s climax weekend, a roundtrip ticket on United Airlines from Miami in economy class cost US$2,344 and higher.
“These high airfares are horrific, but if the people are paying, the airlines are not going to bring back the prices. Only when that begins to cool off will the airlines, which are trying to recoup their losses for the last two, three years, will bring the prices back down,” Hall said.
Noting that the COVID-19 pandemic and the multiple lockdowns have led to a pent-up demand for travel, the former head of the Barbados Tourism Product Authority said many travellers are now willing to pay top dollar to visit destinations on their bucket list “no matter the cost”.
Leading the tourist charge into the Caribbean is the American visitor who accounted for 51.5 per cent of all tourist arrivals into the region last year.
“The US is leading this rebound. The USA has the world’s most prolific travellers, and they are the ones flooding the world travelling, so maybe that is why when you are flying out of the US, the airlines can afford to raise their prices because they figure the people can afford the money,” she stressed.
She earlier noted: “People have come out of COVID with a completely different mindset. ‘I need to live life to the fullest. I am travelling no matter what the cost’. So no matter what the high air fares are, which are ridiculous, people are travelling and spending their money. That’s what pent-up demand is doing.”
Saying the question now is how long will this last, Hall predicted that at some point middle and lower income travellers will tighten their belts and leave international travel to the higher-earning individuals, which will benefit destinations adopting the quality rather than quantity approach to tourism.
The tourism expert also underlined that COVID may have achieved what the Caribbean has long wished for – a year round tourist season.
“What we have tried to do for decades is to create year-round tourism here in Barbados or the region. We’ve never really quite succeeded because people will come to the Caribbean in winter and go elsewhere in summer, or stay home where it’s warm. You find out that all of this pent-up demand is now spilling over into the trough and into the summer period,” she explained.(Barbados Today)