One of the indirect effects of the global financial crisis on Barbados has been a reduction in visitor arrivals. While arrivals from all of Barbados’ main source markets felt the impact, the British market has been particularly hard hit: not only has the total number of visitors declined, but visitor expenditure has also fallen.
There are a number of potential explanations that have been posited:
- The UK recession and the rise of the ‘staycation’ have resulted in lower demand for travel outside of the country
- The increase in the air passenger duty applied to long-haul flights increased the cost of airfare, possible beyond the reach of many of Barbados’ visitors
- The closure of a large all-inclusive hotel created a gap in the package holiday market
We examine these theories in our article ‘Where did the Brits go?’
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