Research & Publications

The Tourism Working Group

The Tourism Working Group

About the Tourism Working Group

The Barbados Hotel and Tourism Association (BHTA) approached the Central Bank of Barbados (CBB), the Ministry of Tourism (MoT) and the Barbados Tourism Authority (BTA) about meeting to discuss issues on the sector.  On June 22 2011 BHTA met with these three agencies and highlighted the need for greater research and the need for a forum where key representatives could share updates. At that meeting it was agreed that such a forum was indeed critical and that the Barbados Statistical Service (BSS) and the Caribbean Tourism Organisation (CTO) were key agencies that should be members. August 10 2011 therefore marked the first meeting of this cross-organisational group of six. The TWG was officially introduced to the industry on March 14 2012 at the BHTA Quarterly Briefing and the existence of this forum will further deepen the market intelligence of all member agencies, and by extension the industry as a whole.

Current Focus and Initiatives

A necessary foundation of research is data and so in addition to identifying available research information and highlighting any perceived gaps, at this embryonic stage of the life of the Working Group, a key desire is to get a clear understanding of the data available among the members and to identify any discrepancies. The current focus is therefore on clarity, consistency, transparency and depth of data coverage.

Data Initiatives Collaborative Research
  • Comparison of demographics of those registered with BTA and  BHTA members
  • Exploration of further information available on Occupancy Rate statistics
  • Examination of varying standards of categorisation and classification
  • Quarterly Survey of BHTA members
  • The Impact of The Olympics, Elections, and Other Similar Events on Arrival Levels in Barbados
  • Behavioural Patterns of Visitors to Barbados as it Relates to Villa Accommodation
  • The Development and Outlook of the Cruise Industry in Barbados

TWG shared updates of its activities for 2012 at the BHTA Quarterly Briefing on December 12 2012.

Contact Us

A key role of CBB within the Group is to coordinate meetings and track its action items. Therefore comments for the TWG may be shared via email at twg@centralbank.org.bb

Member Agencies

The members of the TWG collectively cover the key areas of the tourism sector of Barbados, namely policy formation and product development; economic contribution of tourism; marketing, travelling services and registering of industry players; the voice of the players; regional initiatives; and the official provider of statistics. The Chairmanship of the TWG is rotated among the various member agencies on an annual basis. CBB agreed to Chair the TWG in its first year. Effective September 1, 2012 the MoT assumed Chairmanship for 2012/13.Click here for more about the roles of the members and primary contacts by agency

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