Festivals beefing up arrivals
by Marsilyn Browne
In 1974, when the then Barbados Board of Tourism took the decisive step to revive the Crop-Over Festival as a tourism development project, few realised at that time the role that this festival would play in the cultural development of Barbados. As we celebrate Congaline, one of our newer festivals, a look at the future of our festivals in tourism is timely. Cultural tourism has become a major source of attraction for visitors worldwide. Today’s tourist wants to do more than laze on the beach; he wants to experience the life of the country. In response, practically every destination in the world is promoting its festivals to the visitor market. Countries with well-established festivals, like Trinidad and its carnival, are inviting the outside world to share in this unique experience. Many countries are also developing festivals specifically geared towards the visitor market. The Barbados Jazz Festival in January is held on the dates of the Martin Luther King holiday in the United States, making it easy for United States visitors to travel for the festival. Wholesome Gospelfest was developed as a wholesome tourism product to woo visitors from the religious market. The Barbados Tourism Authority (BTA) has taken a leading role in diversifying the tourism calendar by developing and promoting festivals in Barbados. The BTA now promotes seven magnificent festivals: Crop-Over and Gospelfest, which were developed by the BTA; the Holders Opera Season and the Barbados Jazz Festival, which were started with considerable sponsorship by the BTA; the Holetown Festival and the Oistins Fish Festival, two community-based festivals, and the Congaline Festival, the latest addition to the festival calendar. The development of cultural tourism is delineated by the need to balance the authenticity of the culture with the desire to attract visitors to the destination. A destination which waters down its cultural offering by becoming totally visitor-oriented will lose the local base and eventually the very visitors it is seeking to attract. Challenge In Barbados this challenge has been forceably met. While taking the lead as a festival developer, the BTA has maintained that its primary function is that of a tourism marketing and promotion agency, and that festivals should be organised by local concerns. In addition, as the festivals grow and mature, funding by the authority should be gradually reduced as the festivals become sustainable. Crop-Over is now organised by the National Cultural Foundation and has now become the signature festival of Barbados. It has fostered a resurgence of Barbadian traditions: foods, games and musical expressions. The Barbadian entertainment scene, fuelled by the dynamism of Crop-Over, has advanced rapidly, and in a very short time, Barbados has become the entertainment centre of the Caribbean. The Holders Opera Season, once considered by some as too high-brow, is providing an interesting vehicle through which local artistes are able to add a Barbadian flavour to classical works through the creation of their own music and dramatic interpretation. The Barbados Jazz Festival gives us the opportunity to see our own artistes alongside legendary international performers like Roberta Flack, Kenny G., Ray Charles, and George Benson. And the word from these musical greats is that our own Arturo Tappin, Roger Gittens, and Carol George, among others, are world class. The BTA plays its part by promoting our festivals to the international media, travel agent trade, and tour operators. Top local bands such as krosfyah, Square One, John King and Jegna, For De People, have travelled with the BTA on promotional tours and special events in Britain, Germany, Canada, South America, the French West Indies and the United States, further disseminating Barbados’ music to the outside world. Crafts people, chefs, barmen, stiltwalkers, dancers, and steelbands have performed at various overseas promotions organised by the BTA to introduce our local culture to the marketplace. But are we reaping the benefits that we sought when we diversified our calendar with these festivals? A look at our visitor arrival figures will show that July and August now mingle with the winter months in terms of the highest visitor arrivals. But many of our hotels are still experiencing low occupancy figures during this period, indicating that our Crop-Over traffic is still based on visiting friends and relatives. The 1998 Jazz Festival Visitor Survey shows that expenditure by overseas patrons at the Jazz Festival amounted to approximately US$2 million, an increase of 79 per cent on 1997. Yet there was a decline in visitors who considered the Jazz Festival as an important influence in their decision to come to Barbados. Significant Of those who came in 1998, a significant number considered the BTA and television important sources of information, yet, stated the report, “there is no clear sign that marketing and publicity programmes are manifesting themselves in increased numbers and effective expansion of the tourism component of the festival”. If we are to maximise the potential of our festivals, there is obviously more work to be done. Barbados is experiencing a cultural renaissance, creativity is exploding in theatre, poetry, art, song and dance. The visitor market is ready to explore this aspect of our destination. The Qualified Travel Consultant Programme is graduating travel agents with a deeper knowledge and appreciation for Barbados. The island’s tourism plant is expanding in quality and quantity. The time could not be more perfect to take advantage of our cultural growth. Marsilyn Browne is a Barbados Tourism Authority Public Relations Officer. 
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