BARBADOS TOURISM AUTHORITY CELEBRATES 40Th ANNIVERSARY AT WORLD TRAVEL MARKET 98

BARBADOS TOURISM AUTHORITY CELEBRATES 40th ANNIVERSARY AT WORLD TRAVEL MARKET 98

London, 3 December 1998: Barbados Tourism Authority (BTA) celebrates its 40th anniversary this year, having set its sights on growing tourism with renewed vigour and will extend the celebrations to make a major splash at this year's World Travel Market show.

Anniversaries are a time to look forward, as well as to look back and the BTA has started a major drive to give Barbados a more prominent international profile, starting with the annual travel trade showcase in London.

"Faced with the declining fortunes of agriculture which was the major industry and economic activity in 1958, tourism was seen to be a potentially viable option," says Miss Billie Miller, Minister of Foreign Affairs, Tourism and International Transport.

"Today, tourism has proved itself not only to be a viable option, but has firmly established itself as the mainstay of the Barbadian economy, accounting in 1987 for 70% of foreign exchange receipts, 15% of Gross Domestic Product (GDP) and employing some 20,000 persons.

"Arrivals in 1997 easily make that year a landmark year in the history of the authority's operations, with the 1989 record being eclipsed by a 24% increase in arrivals." - 2 -

British tourists are among Barbados' most faithful visitors, accounting for just under 37% of all arrivals on the island. Nearly 92,000 people travelled from the UK to Barbados in the first half of 1998, an increase of 26% compared to last year.

Britons are also likeliest to stay for long periods. In June this year, the number of UK visitors staying for longer holidays increased by more than 3% year on year.

Barbados aims to attract a record 500,000 long-stay visitors by the end of 1998, having broken all previous records in the first half of this year.

"This record-breaking first-half performance means we are on course to achieve the historic breakthrough of 500,000 long-stay visitors for 1998," says BTA president, Mr Earlyn Shuffler. "Using current industry average spend per visitor as a base, this would translate into an estimated spend of above $1.6 billion to the Barbados economy this year."

One of the BTA's main plans is to reduce seasonality and develop new initiatives to spread tourism throughout the year, as well as increasing high-yield business in specific off-season periods, by promoting the island's sports fixtures, festivals and other special events. - 3 -

It also plans to step up its marketing for special events and to increase visitor and cruise ship passengers spend on tourism services outside the hotels sector and to strengthen links between tourism and other sectors of the Barbadian economy.

The BTA is also targeting new airline partnerships, both in its established markets and in new target regions, such as South America. The US, Canada, Latin America and other Caribbean states are all seen as potential growth markets.

At present, more than a third of all tourists are from the UK, followed by the US, Canada and the Caribbean  and the numbers continue to rise. Nearly 260,000 tourists visited Barbados between January and June this year  an increase of nearly 13% compared to last year.

By 2002, the BTA aims to achieve 20% annual growth from new, high yield tourist markets and to generate Bd $2million from tourism overall.

Since its creation in 1958, the BTA has achieved remarkable success in turning Barbados into one of the most attractive destinations in the Caribbean and expanding the island's tourism industry. Today, it has a budget of more than $42 million to promote Barbados as a top class destination to visitors.

Tourism's contribution to GDP expanded from 10% to 15% between 1993-7. Foreign visitors generate more than 70% of Barbados' foreign exchange and the tourism sector now employs about 13% of the Barbados labour force. Last year, tourism revenues reached a record-breaking $1.5bn. - 4 -

Barbados draws visitors back time and time again. To recognise this, the BTA launched the Over Five and Twenty Sojourns in Barbados club, for visitors who have returned to the island more than 25 times. The club now has about 1,700 members, some of whom have celebrated their 50th and even their 100th return to the island.

For further details contact: Beth Macnair or Zarina McCulloch at Manning, Selvage & Lee on 0171 878 3000

NOTE TO EDITORS: The Barbados Tourism Authority has recently won three major industry awards:

 The World Travel Association named the BTA as the top Caribbean tourist and convention bureau.  The World Travel Market awarded the BTA for the best stand in 1997.  Brides Magazine presented the BTA with a plaque after voting Barbados one of the world's outstanding honeymoon destinations, following a poll among its readers.