Barbados TravelAdvisor

I found Trevor McDonald's portrayal of Barbados so dissapointing and was left wondering what impression it gave to anyone who has not been lucky enough to visit...probably that it is an overdeveloped playground for the uber rich only.Most of the programme was spent discussing Sandy Lane and Port St Charles and the high end developments, no mention of the ordinary people who for me make the island so special, neither did it show any of the beautiful scenery that we are all so familiar with, there was a 10 second snapshot of the coastal highway and that was it! What a shame it did not examine the fascinating contrasts between North, South, East & West and some of the islands history and rich culture instead.

Look out Trevor we can all do the job better and for half the salary

I just rang a friend of mine from the Turf Club and told him it was virtually all about Cow Williams ! AND he was NOT descended from the British Plantation OWNERS as we all know ! At least he was truthful when he said he was a bad loser-----------------He's THAT alright, especially when it comes to Horse Racing

I totally agree Viv,I thought when Barbados wasnt mentioned until the last ten minutes or so ,it was a bad sign,wished I hadnt bothered recording the programme.
I suppose because we on this forum love BIM so much,the programme was always going to struggle to meet our expectations,but the tv company have missed an opportunity,the parts of the series that I enjoyed most ,were the Caribbean as portrayed in ordinary peoples lives

Have to agree - at least with Trinidad,Cuba and Jamaica he has shown aspects of island life which relate to how the majority of people live
anyone not knowing Barbados would think everyone lives in large houses/condos with their own boat

I missed it tonight and was going to watch it online. Don't think I'll bother now.

It was dissapointing wasn't it. They could have shown more of the locals and the lovely beaches. They could have even visited oistins on a weekend and shown the tourists and locals all together having a good time, and what about the hundreds of rum shops. It would have been easy to show barbados as a lovely, safe place to visit instead of giving the impression it is only for the very rich.

It’s interesting reading everyone’s comments (can’t see the show here in Canada, darn!). On my last trip to Barbados I spoke with a few people that are involved in tourism-based businesses. We talked a lot about the economy – they all said Barbados was immune to the economic crisis that was impacting the UK, US and Canada. I heard many comments along the lines of “Barbados properties/investment hold their value”, “The type of people that come to Barbados will always have money”, etc. (Would love to speak with them again – just 3 months later to see if they still feel the same.)

Barbados, at least in recent years, markets itself as a high-end island. They don’t offer “Spring Break Packages” the way Mexico does nor do you see Barbados in last minute sell offs like you do for Cuba, Jamaica, DR, etc. BTA’s (Barbados Tourism Authority) advertising in Canada is limited to glossy, high-end food & drink magazines, and sponsorships of elite events in the Toronto area. Some people I spoke with in Bim were very disappointed that West Jet and Jet Blue have stared flying to Barbados. Cheap seats=cheap tourist, in their books and they don't want them.

Look at a recent commercial http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5GJRs3M8uKQ or the BTA website http://www.visitbarbados.org/Splash.aspx (Interesting side note: If you search their site for accommodations you’re taken to the Expedia website, and of course we know the link between Expedia and the other TA, so I wonder now if the BTA has any influence over some of the topics on TA). They don’t show rum shops, Oistens, Rockley Beach, Chefettes, blue buses or locals playing dominos. They highlight yachts anchored in calm waters, high-end restaurants, polo players, secluded beaches, etc.

I’m guessing that if you look at the show’s credits you might very well see “A special thank you to Barbados Tourism Authority” because it sounds like the show showed exactly what the BTA wants the world to see.

You may well be right Sue W

...Trevor McDonald was a total let down - but at least there wasn't anything about crime & poverty in Barbados ! The Internet was wrong with its report.

It seems that all he has done is track down filthy rich Brits & Americans who own copius properties on islands - or own lots of actual islands - and wish to brag about their wealth and how wonderful their places are, and how much money they extort from people that are happy to be stupid enough to pay the extortionate amounts they charge for them. Plus a bit of crime & poverty in Jamaica thrown into the programme for good measure.

BTW, the part of the programme that featured Jamaica was somewhat disjointed ! We went into a commercial break with Trevor sitting on Island Records’ founder Chris Blackwell’s estate expecting to hear from Chris after the break – especially about the time Bob Marley was shot in Jamaica (which we didn’t know about – we’d only heard he’d exiled himself from Jamaica after death threats there), but the story wasn’t followed up at all after the break !*

Wonder if they’ll do the same next week when Trevor goes to meet another music supremo – George Martin – for a tour round what’s left of his recording studio on Monseraat ?

Anyway, there are plenty of places around the world that cost just a fraction of what Branson, Copperfield & Co are charging for staying on their islands. We stayed in Nevis many years ago and there was a place named The Hermitage - wonderful plantation house with staff etc. Had the place to yourself. Didn't cost a fortune. Neither did the place we actually stayed in ourselves (Montpelier Plantation Inn) that had previously been a holiday haunt for Charles and Di (separately).

We've stayed in Praslin, Seychelles, fantastic place, had the beach etc. to ourselves. Not a beach vendor to be seen – well it wouldn’t have been worth their while with so few potential customers would it. Didn't cost a fortune.

The following Seychelles island looks just as wonderful (more so in fact) as Branson’s and at a fraction of the cost he charges.
http://www.fregate.com/en/home.htm

Anyway, we'll see what Trevor has to say about Grenada next week. It's a truly beautiful island so we hope he features some of the actual island.


* Fortunately, Chris Blackwell was interviewed at length by BBC4 for an excellent documentary about Island Records that was screened a few weeks ago, so we had already heard a lot from him – although not the shooting saga.

West Coast Blog: "Vera Wang’s Sandy Lane Chic" - http://shar.es/GPVe - #Barbados #fashion #Caribbean mbmb btamb cbmb
1 minute ago from ShareThis.com
KNRX

Mrs BB, I love Praslin and think it beats Barbados hands down for natural beauty, the reason.....the planning laws do not allow anything to be built higher than the tree line- two storey's high also their waters and shoreline are protected - no groins to be found there! It's a great pity barbados doesn't take a leaf out of their book instead of pillaging and plundering their natural assets.
I was pleased to see that the program makers chose not to make an issue of the recent incidents on the island (regarding crime) as it would have been very damaging to tourism and was horrified to see how bad things are in Jamaica. I would have very cautious about visiting there before the programme but would never consider it now even though I am told it is a very beautiful island.

Barbados Free Press chimes in - http://barbadosfreepress.wordpress.com/2009/07/06/internet-searches-for-sir-charles-williams-of-barbados-explode-what-is-happening-with-cow-williams/

Quite amusing in a way KNRX - the barbados blogs were picking up all the searches after the program but noone knew why!!!
On another note - it was reported a few weeks ago that the Nation news had changed its online format so that its stories are not picked up on general internet searches and apparently the Herald is only available online that day?? so it is not picked up either - the BFP has said before that it often tops the searches for items on Barbados
The opinion of the BFP seemed to be that the newspapers had deliberatly done this so that if there were any reports of crime, wrongdoing etc then general searches wouldnt pick it up from their newstories!!

Interesting interview with Sir COW on Voice of Barbados TV - http://www.vob929.com/index.pl/hottv?id=251733 - and select In Profile: Sir Chalres O Williams.

well the program might not have suited most of us because of what it didnt show about Barbados - but the prgram has certainly generated interest in Mr Williams!! Dont think it will help the Barbados tourist economy though but at least it has helped increase the BFP profile

http://barbadosfreepress.wordpress.com/ ... x-million/

oh and by the way they were from the UK - bit scary what these computers know about us