To Culture Minister……Hon John King and RBPF

I believe that Cropover is currently a major financial disappointment to Barbados and could be a huge foreign currency earner!

The way it is managed is in my opinion commercially naive and immature.  It frustrates me every year to watch the financial waste here and then to go to Trinidad ……and this year I even  went to Jamaica……and see how to make real money from the very special and different visitor product that all 3 countries have to offer.

I see absolutely no real incentive or political will to attract proper high spending visitors with any kind of visible   ‘Bajan love and attention’.  It is called TLC…….tender loving care in marketing slang!  We do not seem to offer TLC to our visitors. It is ‘take it or leave it’.

I have lived here now for 20 years and it only marginally gets better.

However this year I went to Jamaica Carnival 2018 and was bowled over by the professionalism and fast growth in numbers of revellers attracted to the best bands. Almost all were from overseas, mainly North America.

There are a number of things I think could be done…….

1……..Sell Cropover to the World as something very special.   Properly market it with an agency that understands and create appeal that actually resonates with the potential customers.  Safe. Fun. 4 days of amazing music, dance, costumes, friendship, weather, .  Easy to plan, easy to fly in, easy to participate, easy to watch, easy to engage part-time or full-time.  Great food and drink. 

SAFE SAFE FUN!

2…………Engage or order the Police to make Cropover better for the visitors.  For example this nonsense of expecting 40 or 50 year old women to walk all the way from Hothersal Roundabout to the Stadium in hot sun, is absolute Madness.  There has to be free shuttles. The police have to cooperate for national economic reasons.

3…….Government to pay for free shuttles at many places  to and from the bands en-route, so revellers can join in and leave and then rejoin in more easily at several places on the route, should they get tired.

4……..Make the marching route longer. It is too short and the Police only want to get it over as quickly as possible.  For a visitor it’s all over too quickly for the costs.

5…….have more toilet and food stations on the route for revellers and watchers.

6…….give the band owners an overseas client subsidy and marketing budget to encourage them to grow visitors as opposed to local sales.

7……..engage certain hotels to really buy into Cropover packages to absolutely cater for ‘high end visitors’ as well as ‘budget’ ones.

8…….use the Rihanna appeal to catch a group currently ignored.  Wealthy recently divorced persons with huge multi million dollar settlements wanting to enjoy life in a safe environment and do something new special and different.  (You) just got $60m from your ex who took a younger model…….you want to show that you still got style and can have safe fun too!  Barbados on a US$25-30k package for 5 days is a drop in the ocean for such people. There could easily be 500 customers for that type of product and many will return for normal holidays too, and tell the world on social media!

There are so many other detail things I can suggest but all stem from the same concept.

We need to change the Cropover mindset in government.  It is very dated , very conservative, very small minded, very mean, very closed and very traditional.

Talk to people like Richard Haines at Baje, like Xosa, like Aura, like Wharton at Zulu, like Avery at Krave.  Employ some youngsters and youngstars to promote properly.

Cropover is there ready to be exploited , ready to make huge numbers of visitors come and enjoy. Ready to earn millions in USD and GBP.

Unless the powers that be think like wealthy visitors and understand what they want it will never happen.

Submitted by H. Morley