Barbados Aims to Build Health and Wellness Travel Niche
by Nick VerrastroBarbados wants to develop its health and wellness tourism business, which is seen as year-round business that can help the Caribbean nation’s travel industry meet the challenges of seasonality and the cyclical general tourism business.
A recent study by the Barbados Hotel and Tourism Association (BHTA) found that Barbados needs to do more to capitalize on this profitable niche market, and officials on the Caribbean island say that the private sector should lead the way.
The BHTA study reported, “Wellness tourism is not seasonal, and many of the specialist areas of treatment are in major growth spurts, notably cosmetic surgery and non-invasive treatments. Many of these disciplines should also attract Barbadians as clients, ‘Staycations’ with a purpose.”
Numerous hotels on Barbados offer spa packages, according to the study, but there is a lack of other well-being facilities that package accommodation and treatment together to attract long-stay visitors.
The BHTA report stated that Barbados can be a major player in fertility treatments, given the success of the Barbados Fertility Centre (BFC), which in 2005 launched an IVF package.
The Barbados Minister of Tourism, Richard Sealy, has said that health and wellness tourism is growing faster the general tourism and Barbados plans to develop its health and wellness niche market, according to a report in one Bajan newspaper.
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Worldwide trends showed opportunities for trade in health services within the Caribbean, said Barbados Senator Irene Sandiford-Garner, in a speech to a conference last month at Barbados’ Lloyd Erskine Sandiford Centre on Health and Wellness Tourism.
“These include an aging population with increasing demands for cosmetic surgery, spas and retirement communities. There is also growing affluence among the younger population, particularly in the U.S., who rate vacations that offer spa facilities, fitness and addiction treatment as highly desirable,” she explained.
Sandiford-Garner noted that the island’s established tourism infrastructure, with its capacity to support the movement of customers and provide world-class hotel services, is the platform for developing the country’s health and wellness tourism market.
“Our markets offer attractive environments for the delivery of a health tourism product,” she said.
“Our proximity to the North American and European markets, climate and ambient environment, lower labor costs, reliable communications and transport infrastructure, first-class hotel and tourism services, an educated population, and well-trained practitioners in an established health and medical service in both public and private sectors, make Barbados a prime destination for visitors seeking health services.”
She added that government Task Force on Health and Wellness Travel last year recommended that the Bajan government seek technical assistance to undertake a study and development plan; draft a Health and Wellness Tourism Development Incentives Act; establish a wellness council; develop new legislation to address this aspect of tourism; and establish coordinating bodies to manage the six sectors outlined in the Health Tourism Continuum for Development in Barbados.
Those six pillars are: wellness promotion, complementary and alternative medicine, healthy food alternatives, assisted living, universal access to tourism products and services and conventional medicine.
Sandiford-Garner said that a distinct health and wellness product can make Barbados the hub of health and tourism in the Caribbean, and that the establishment of a National Health Care Quality Council will help to ensure this.
“To ensure sustainability of the product that Barbados offers on the international Health and Wellness tourism market, we must have an edge over our regional and even international competitors. With competition as close as St. Lucia, it is key that Barbados develops a product that is distinct and stands out from the other offerings in the region,” Sandiford-Garner noted.
She said that in order to attract health and wellness tourists, high quality standards are paramount and there is a need to ensure that health care standards are at world class levels.
National Health Care Quality Council will be established to coordinate quality management in the health sector; provide annual reports on the quality of the sector; set benchmarks to measure performance; and establish performance standards and protocols, according to Sandiford-Garner.
She added that a wellness council has been established to act as the regulating body for wellness professionals.
Health and Wellness tourism, said Sandiford-Garner, has economic benefits for Barbados, especially if the costs of regulation and development of the services are less than the potential revenues.
“Diversifying the tourism product will therefore attract a wider customer base and will provide opportunities to expand our economy. The industry would develop a greater resilience, which would enable it to recover in case of external circumstances beyond the region’s control,” Sandiford-Garner stated.
