Rashaed Esson
Staff Writer
#Barbados, August 1, 2023 – Barbados has made moves to better facilitate regional travel with the reduction of its airport service charge from US$35 to US$20.
Ian Gooding-Edghill, Minister of Tourism highlighted that the reduction which will be for six months, ending on December 14, 2023, was done because of the high cost of inter-regional travel, in efforts to stimulate the local market.
“So, we’ve taken that decision. We recognize that the CARICOM market is price sensitive [and] we recognize if we are going to drive traffic to the destination in the absence of having what was LIAT in its former form, then we had to take the necessary steps to make the adjustments,” he said.
Also, as he pointed out, this was done to also bring more arrivals into Barbados.
“We took this step because we felt confident that a reduction in the airport service charge will stimulate travel within the region and also ensure that we get more arrivals from the Caribbean into Barbados,” he further stated
Additionally, there has been collaboration between the Ministry of Tourism and airlines such as Air Antilles and InterCaribbean in efforts to increase the number of weekly flights to the island, and Edghill expressed that the results are good as arrivals have indeed increased.
“I am pleased to say, based on the load factors coming out of both regional carriers, that we are seeing an increase in the number of arrivals from within CARICOM.”
