Barbados has had its hopes for an improved summer tourism season dashed as a result of significant cuts to airlift out of one of its major source markets.
In the heat of high demand for travel by pent-up clients, Heathrow Airport in London recently asked airlines to stop selling tickets over the next two months in an attempt to avert more summer travel disruption, while limiting passengers to 100 000 daily from July 12 to September 11.
The UK’s busiest airport, which handled 125 000 departing passengers a day before the COVID-19 pandemic, has been affected by staff shortages in its own security as well as among airlines and ground handlers, forcing it to cap traveller numbers.
Chairman of the Barbados Hotel and Tourism Association Renee Coppin revealed that reports to that organisation indicated Barbados will have 18 523 less inbound seats from the UK market for the remaining summer months from July to October 2022 when compared with 2019, the last normal year of operation.
She said the BHTA was concerned with emerging global trends that “continue to threaten” the recovery of the tourism industry and dampen the pent-up demand for travel. (GC)